188

 

V. I. LENIN'S THEORETICAL HERITAGE, AND PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Yu. A. Sherkovin, T. V. Yevgenieva

V. I. Lenin's theoretical approach to such social-psychological problems as activity and its motivation, place and role of socially determined activity in the development of personality, political consciousness and activity in the structure of personality, collectivism and leadership has been considered. V. I. Lenin's treatment of the above issues makes it possible to elaborate more deeply the tasks set forth by the XXVII-th Congress of the CPSU: reconstruction of the consciousness and activity, creation of the new man, development of individual and collective social activity, improvement of the leadership.

 

SOME CONCLUSIONS CONCERNING DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN THE UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC

L. N. Prokoliyenko

Contribution of Ukrainian psychologists into the progress of the Soviet psychological science is briefly outlined. Problems tackled by the headquarters psychological establishment in the Ukraine — Kiev Scientific-Research Institute of Psychology — are considered at greater length. Basic lines of future research and corresponding methodology are presented.

 

ADVANCES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY IN SOVIET GEORGIA

Sh. A. Nadirashvili, I. V. Imedadze

History of psychological studies in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic is given. Basic lines of research are outlined, and personal contributions of Georgian psychologists are indicated. Particular attention is devoted to the creative work of D. N. Uznadze — the founder of the Georgian psychological school and the author of the concept and theory of set. Participation of Georgian psychologists in the life and work of the Soviet psychological community is outlined.

 

AGE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANTICIPATION IN THINKING OF PRE-SCHOOLERS

L. Elkoninova

The work has been devoted to the study of inner means which make in possible for preschoolers to anticipate changes in objects (particularly the role of signs in thinking has been studied). Specificity of the experiment consisted in the fact that the transformation of an object in time was represented through its transformation in space — i. e. by means of a series of drawings depicting consecutive stages in the transformation of the object. The children were to reconstruct the process of transformation using either gestures or words. The latter is shown to be a more efficient means; however enforcing it on a child may drastically interfere with the activity of reconstruction. Special efforts on the part of the experimenter are needed to make the child to accept the suggested means which, in its turn, requires comprehension, on the part of the child, of the relatedness of the means to the task to be performed.

 

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT AND MORAL STATEMENTS IN YOUNGER SCHOOLCHILDREN

M. I. Volovikova

Results of an experimental study are presented where children of the junior school age were given original and modified versions of some of J. Piaget's moral "stories" with the view to reveal the scope of their interests and to establish their ability to deal with them at the level of internal operations. Qualitative analysis of the records makes in possible to conclude that at this age the process of organization of moral statements is influenced by the capacity for operating in the internal plane, by the social and family context of the "stories", and by some personality features connected with the availability of moral norms.

 

189

 

FAMILY AS A FACTOR IN DEVELOPMENT OF THE LEARNING-COGNITIVE MOTIVATION OF JUNIOR SCHOOLCHILDREN

N. G. Tscherbakova

An experimental study of the influence of family on development of the cognitive motivation in junior schoolchildren is summarized. A conclusion is made that influence of the referent adult is mediated through his sense (pertaining to meaning) interpretations of the behavior of the child: whenever there is a directional change in the system of such interpretations on the part of the adult it produces corresponding shifts in the behavior of the child.

 

FAMILIAL AND SEX-ROLE ATTITUDES IN ADOLESCENTS

V. Ye. Kagan

Sex-role and family role attitudes of 140 adolescents (13-14 and 16-17 years old) of both sexes — pupils of a general educational school — have been studied by means of a semantic differential procedure. The study revealed definite similarity between the percept of masculinity / femininity characteristics of one's parents and corresponding characteristics of an imagined spouse; however in boys and in girls the pattern of this dependance is qualitatively somewhat different.

 

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PROFESSIONAL INTEREST AND THE INCLINATION FOR PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITY

G. D. Babushkin

Results of a study of the relation between the interest and the inclination for pedagogical activity are reported. It is shown that the inclination for pedagogical activity in school years does not play a major role in the appearance of the corresponding professional interest. The role of inclination as a factor in development of the professional interest significantly increases at the stage of higher education. After the graduation this role of inclination increases still further. A method for the diagnosis of the professional interest and inclination for pedagogical activity which, when somewhat modified, can be used for other vocations as well is presented.

 

DOES V. F. SHATALOV'S TEACHING METHOD LEAD TO MORE EFFICIENT, PRODUCTIVE THINKING?

Z. I. Kalmykova

Psychological analysis of the organizational-methodological system proposed by teacher-innovator V. F. Shatalov enables the author to give a positive answer to the question whether and how this system influences development of creative thinking in schoolchildren. The following features of the system make possible from the author's point of view, this positive influence: introduction of the theoretical material in large units (chunks); strengthening of this material with the help of specific means —. «supportive sygnals» ensuring control over consolidation of it in the long-term memory in the process of active categorization of it; high priority given to independent study asignments in combination with the free choice of the latter and provision of all kinds of controlling and helping means and material — in such a way as to guarantee a differential approach to teaching and, in its turn, to create a possibility «to learn victoriously» for everybody; creation of a particular psychological climate in class ensuring that every pupil independent of his / her abilities and style of learning receives benevolent help and support: formation — as a result — of love for work, adequate self-estimation, and of self-control habits and skills.

 

SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAINING IN PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION OF THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHER

V. M. Filatov, G. Ye. Filatova

Some group and discussion techniques of the social-psychological training used in special (linguistic), psychological, and methodological preparation of foreign language teachers are considered. Particular attention is given to the role of pedagogical communication as an indispensable (non-compensatory) means in solution of all kinds of educational and teaching problems. In is underlined by the authors that efficiency of social-psychological training in preparation of teachers for professional work requires realization of the inter-disciplinary approach.

 

190

 

EXPERIMENTAL FORMATION OF MENTAL OPERATIONS IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING IN A MEDICAL HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

G. I. Lerner, Ye. V. Orestova

Some aspects of implementation of the theory of planned formation of mental operations and notions in the teaching process (in a medical institute) are discussed. A model of a practical lesson dedicated to the theme «professional activity of a medical worker» based on employment of a system of problem tasks and of orientational schemes is offered. Requirements to a system of instructional clinical tasks are described.

 

PERCEPTION OF SCIENTIFIC NOTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS AS A FUNCTION OF ORGANIZATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC TEXT

A. I. Lounkov

Some logical-psychological ways of organizing definitions of notions and illustrations in an instructional book, and corresponding outcomes of comprehending them under conditions of spontaneous (non-directed) reading of such texts, are considered. More efficient ways of dealing with problems of designing manuals and text-books based on psychological regularities of perception and comprehension by learners of the instructional material are suggested.

 

INTERRELATION BETWEEN THE PERSONAL AUTHORITY OF A TEACHER AND THE'AUTHORITY OF THE TEACHER'S ROLE

M. Yu. Kondratiev

It is argued in the paper that a teacher's personal prestige and his authority as a teacher are related though do not coincide: It would be a mistake on the part of a teacher to design his attitudes with pupils proceeding exclusively from his role position. The process of development of teachers' authority, and of the whole system of authoritative relations in an instructional-educational collective, is described. It is shown also on what grounds respect for the teacher's authority is based in the eyes of junior schoolchildren, of adolescents, and of senior pupils.

 

INITIAL STAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH: PROBLEMS AND HYPOTHESES

Ye. I. Isenina

Notions of sign, meaning, and significance are considered from a psychological-semiotic position in relation to the initial stage in the development of speech. Theoretical review concerning stages in the development of speech, genetical roots of speech, thinking, and of the sing phenomenon enables the author to put forward the following hypotheses: 1) semantic syntax appears within the pre-word communication; 2) in the pre-word ontogenesis there appear and function different sensual, emotional-expressive, cognitive, object, and communicative meanings; 3) speech and thinking possess common genetical roots in the operations with objects; 4) there develops a system of protosigns at the "primitive" pre-word stage which precedes the speech and prepares its appearance.

 

OVERWEIGHT AND PHYSICAL IMAGE OF SELF

Ye. S. Kreslavskiy

The data is given obtained in the study of people suffering from alimentary-constitutional forms of obesity. It is shown that their images of Self are determined by social-cultural standards of man's physical appearance. The standards are found to be different at different stages of ontogenetical development; they may also vary depending on self-estimation and on the character of interpersonal relations of the obese people. A hypothesis is put forward that depressive-anxiety reactions to the loss of weight in people suffering from overweight since childhood are basically a result of transformation of the physical image of Self.

 

STUDY OF FLEXIBILITY OF THINKING IN CHILDREN

Ye. S. Yermakova

Flexibility of thinking in pre-school children has been largely neglected by researchers. In the author's definition thinking is a process of using (by a child) of specific thinking means. An original experimental procedure used in the study reveals that the flexibility of thinking, understood as an ability to reconstruct available means of acting, depends on the ability on the part of a child, first, to find in the mental tools which he already posesses some new qualities and aspects, and second, to use the previously used thinking tools in new contexts.

 

191

 

DEVELOPMENT OF MEANING IN THE PROCESS OF READING BELLETRISTICS

R. R. Karakozov

The process of meaning development initiated by reading of a fiction is considered. In order to interprete reading as a process of generation by the reader of a chain of subjective meanings the whole activity is represented as a particular interaction between the reader and the temporal-spatial (chronotopic) structure of the text. As a consequence of this approach reading must be understood as a productive activity and not as a reproductive one (as it was traditionally treated).

 

EFFECT OF A CRITICAL LIFE SITUATION ON THE STRUCTURE OF SELF-ESTIMATION

A. Sh. Tkhostov, D. A. Stepanovich

An attempt is made to represent self-estimation as a hierarchically organized structure and to show how this structure is affected by changes in actual motivation. Changes in the parameters of the suggested model were studied on a group of oncological patients. Disturbed system of actual motivation resulted in their case both in general reorganization of the structure of self-estimation (actual as well as retrospective) and in changed semantic content of particular parameters (self-estimation scales).

 

MEASUREMENT AND EACTORIZATION OF CHARACTERISTICS OF SECONDARY IMAGES

A. A. Gostiev, В. М. Petoukhov

Factor analysis of a wide range of subjective dimensions of mental imagery makes in possible to single out three independent characteristics: vividness (liveliness), controllability, and brightness. The authors correlate their data with other psychological dimensions of men. It is assumed that the results obtained in the study can be instrumental both in elaboration of a multidimensional classification of mental imagery and in better understanding of the nature and functions of man's representational mechanisms.

 

PROJECTIVE AVIATION TEST IN PROFESSIONAL PSYCHODIAGNOSTICS

V. 1. Yevdokimov

A projective aviation test consisting of a series of drawings representing different situations which may occur in flight has been used as a measure of professionally important qualities (flight motivation, anxiety, self-trust, self-discipline, activity). Reliability and validity of the test has been established. In some cases the test was the only analytical tool capable of revealing subjectively significant experiences, conflict situations in family and at work, and other factors which can effect professional efficiency.

 

CONTENT VALIDITY OF TESTS SPECIFIC TO PARTICULAR KINDS OF INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY

A. A. Bartashnikov

Psychological control over the process of function-by-function development of professional skills is achieved, as is known, by means of tests specifically designed to estimate particular intellectual functions. A method for meaningful validization of such tests is suggested; it presupposes comparison of the structure of the test with the structure of activity which the test represents (particularly the stimulus material, operational and externalized structure of mental operations, and motivational structure of activity are to be assessed). Efficiency of the suggested method was proved in studies of a test on short-term memory (modelling the mental activity of chess-players).

 

SOCIAL'AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS OF SEX-ROLE STEREOTYPES

V. S. Ageyev

Basic directions in the study of sex-role stereotypes abroad are analyzed. Main attention is given to studies of social and psychological functions with which the sex-role stereotypization is related (among them: explanatory, justifying, defensive, regulatory, retranslative, etc.). Methodological limitations of the studies are shown. It is argued that fruitful study of sex-role stereotypes requires from Soviet psychologists urgent discussion of a number of principal theoretical issues.

 

ANALYSIS OF SEX-ROLE SOCIALIZATION THEORIES EXISTING IN PRESENT-DAY WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY

T. A. Repina

Mechanisms of sex-role socialization as represented in traditional psychoanalytical theories, in theories of social learning and of cognitive development, an in the «new psychology of gender» — are presented in sufficient detail and critically analyzed.