The effects of self-regulation techniques on human functional states: The moderating role of dominant sensory modality

The application of self-regulation techniques forms a long tradition in Russian work and organizational psychology. The recent research line in this domain focuses on the elaboration of multilevel health promotion programs that provide for efficient learning of self-regulation skills and enlarge individual repertoires of coping strategies. Obtained data allowed to extract two main principles of self-regulation programs’ adaptation: 1) taking into account the grade of fit between self-regulation means and the nature of human functional states’ (HFS) negative transformations in work process; 2) acceptance of individual sensitivity to various self-regulation means. An individualized approach in using self-regulation techniques promotes higher effectiveness in their application and can be considered as a promising way for improving HFS and human reliability in different work settings. This paper investigates dominant sensory modality of imagery as one of individual traits on which selection of the most adequate and individually efficient self-regulation technique depends

Development and Approbation of a Questionnaire for Subjective Assessment of the Level of Work Tasks Regulation

Background. In the modern world, there are organizations in which a high level of task regulation is associated with the cost of erroneous actions and safety requirements. If the perceptions of work regulation, formed in a professional, do not coincide with the real requirements of the activity, it can lead to a decrease in the quality of work, as well as to the development of negative states. This necessitates the creation of a psychodiagnostic methodology to assess the subjective perception of the level of regulation in their professional activities by professionals. Objectives. The focus is on the development and approbation of the method for subjective assessment of the level of work tasks regulation. Study Participants. To reach the goal of the study, the sample included representatives of professions with different levels of work tasks regulation: military personnel serving under contract (n = 96), medical staff (n = 57), artists and musicians (n = 67). In total 220 people participated in the study. Methods. Based on the results of the analysis of existing studies in the field of regulation of professional activity, a technique for subjective assessment of the level of work tasks regulation was developed. The questionnaire included 18 items assessing the following scales: “Regulation” (9 items) and “Creativity” (9 items). Questionnaires with scales evaluating individual parameters of professional activity related to its regulation (the 16-scale semantic differential “My job” and the questionnaire for assessing subjectively important characteristics of the “Job Diagnostic Survey” activity) were selected as an external criterion for assessing the validity of the technique. The approbation allowed us to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the developed questionnaire. Results. The developed questionnaire for subjective assessment of the level of work tasks regulation is characterized by acceptable construct validity but insufficient reliability and consistency. Conclusions. The developed version of the questionnaire needs further improvement. However, it can already be considered as a situational questionnaire, the use of which is acceptable in combination with other methods

Subjective Semantics of Representations of Creativity in Psychology Cadets

Background. The necessity of studying perceptions of creativity in psychology cadets is conditioned by the fact that the “soft” skill of creativity is associated with the ability to go beyond the given conditions and to act effectively in uncertain situations, and also by the fact that the successful adaptation of a young specialist to work depends on whether his perceptions of his activity coincide with its real content. Objectives. The research is meant to identify the peculiarities of representations of creativity in psychology cadets at the adept stage. Study Participants. A total of 201 people (122 men and 79 women) participated in the study, including representatives of different professions: working professionals and trainees, students and cadets. The average age of the sample was 31 years. Methods. Psychosemantic methods were used in the study: group associative experiment and card sorting method. They allow to construct a subjective semantic space reflecting the peculiarities of perceptions of creativity. Results. As a result of the associative experiment, a list of 86 frequent words describing professional activity was obtained. Sorting of the obtained 86 words by cadet psychologists, psychology students, and psychologists of the scientific platoon revealed significant differences in the content and structure of representations of creativity. Comparison of the semantics of creativity in psychologists at the adept stage shows that university students have a more complex structure of representations in comparison with cadets, connected with the allocation of a separate cluster “hobby, interest, development” and at the same time similar in content to the representations of working psychologists on the proximity of “labor, work” with creativity. At the same time, the similarity of clusters in the description of creativity by students and cadets indicates that the ideas about it are laid down at the early stages of professional training. Conclusions. Reconstruction of subjective semantics of creativity by the method of semantic spaces in psychology cadets is a promising qualitative description method for specific characteristics of professional activity

Value Orientation “Patriotism”: Essence, Content, and Assessment

Background. In the modern historical period, taking into account the current military-political situation, the actualization of the idea of patriotism as a comprehensive element of spiritual integrity of people is a condition for the preservation of Russia as an independent and unified state. The analysis of Russian and foreign scientific literature as well as of regulatory legal documents has shown the absence of a unified approach to the essence and content of the value orientation “patriotism”. There was also no tool for assessing the level of value orientation “patriotism” found. Objective. The article focuses on the development of a theoretical model of the value orientation “patriotism” and a methodology for assessing the level of its formation. Sample. 1600 citizens of the Russian Federation took part in the empirical study. Methods. The study was conducted with an expert survey, focus groups and a sociological survey. Results. The ANOVA by Kraskel — Wallis showed the validity of the developed methodology for assessing the value orientation of “patriotism” and the absence of statistically significant differences when using it on different sample populations. Conclusion. The article reveals the essence and content of the value orientation “patriotism”, develops and substantiates its theoretical model, which includes 8 components, as well as means of formation and levels of manifestation. In addition, the study developed and successfully tested a methodology for assessing the level of development of the value orientation “patriotism”

The current state of the legal regulation of psychological assistance

uniformed terminology across the country and separating governmental and non-governmental psychological counselling rendered. Such gap also does not correspond with the interests of the clients that counselling is focused on since the experts who are allowed to extend those services are undetermined and undefined. Objective. The paper is directed at analyzing the status quo of legal regulation of the psychological counselling, finding gaps in such regulation and proving the need in a special federal law. Research Progress. The paper takes an account of the current state of regulation of psychological counselling in the Russian Federation and foreign countries using the comparative legal analysis approach.The research resulted in a finding that there is the need in a special federal law on psychological counselling. Conclusion. Special federal law on psychological counselling of the population is necessary to elaborate and eventually to implement for uniformity in counselling and in social work services, and also to protect the rights and interests of those who seek councelling, as well as determining the qualifications of those to render such services. Practical Application. The research results can be used while drafting and passing a special federal law on psychological counselling and executive regulatory acts

Representations of work engagement and workaholism in modern psychological research

Nowadays athletes in order to achieve high results and achievements should donate their own interests and private life because of spending much more time for countless flights, acclimatization, everyday workout and competition. So they are short of time to fully replenish their psychological and physiological resources, resulting in accumulation of negative human functional states. Without application of any external psychological interventions there is a high probability of occurrence and development of occupational deteriorations in athletes. The main objective of this theoretical research was to identify and analyze the specificity of occupational deteriorations which can develop in sport as a career. In the presented research paper we described the major occupational deteriorations such as burnout (Maslach et al, 2008), workaholism (Schaufeli et al., 2008), perfectionism (Xolmogorova, 2010), type A behaviour (Ryska et al., 1999) and procrastination (Milgram et al., 2000). Accumulation of negative human functional states can entail one or even more occupational deteriorations that will play important role in career termination from sport. Workaholism, burnout, perfectionism, type A Behaviour and procrastination has their own specific manifestations, which can also appear in postretirement from sport activity. The most popular approaches to occupational deteriorations, operationalization and specific features of their appearance and particular manifestations are emphasized, and also various consequences in athlete’s life are described. Thus, occupational deteriorations are one of the most topical and pressed forward issues, which need further development in the framework of conceptualization and inventory development in modern psychology

Perspectives for research of the procrastination phenomenon in professional work

The paper describes the current state of the procrastination phenomenon in professional work, reviews the basic unexplored aspects in this area, and highlights the promising areas of scientific analysis. The survey of the existing literature periodization shows that the quantity of researches devoted to procrastination is growing exponentially every year. In spite of a pronounced research interest in this construct, in native and foreign psychological science procrastination phenomenon in the professional work is represented insufficiently. Firstly, there is no common and generally accepted definition of procrastination (Corkin, Yu, Lindt, 2011; Steel, 2010; Krause, Freund, 2014), that suggests that there is a deep terminological crisis in this area. Secondly, the characteristic of delaying the implementation of the elements of workload is represented only by the example of a fairly narrow range of professional activities, which makes it relevant to study the specificity of the differentiated functioning of the phenomenon on the material of a wide range of professions. Thirdly, in psychology there are no information about the peculiarities of the so-called “active” procrastination manifestations in professional activity, which is the tendency of conscious assignments delaying to achieve the optimum final result (Chu, Choi, 2005; Choi, Moran, 2009). Fourthly, there is an acute shortage of standardized psychodiagnostic tools to evaluate this phenomenon in work (most of the existing methods have been tested on samples of students and are aimed at identifying academic procrastination). In the fifth place, there are no science-based allocation of methods of coping with destructive manifestations of the psychological strategy of the job functions postponement in a professional work

Procrastination phenomenon in individual and team sports athletes’ activity

The modern world imposes strict conditions on people in various types of activities. A huge amount of processed information, tight timelines and other factors may cause people’s inability to cope with their tasks. Thus, there is a popular habit to put off the work without thinking about the consequences. This trait called procrastination is inherent to a million people all over the world. The problem of procrastination is just beginning to develop in Russia. Nowadays lots of foreign research and foreign questionnaires are being translated and approbated. The aim of this research is to identify the level of athletes’ procrastination, and define the differences of procrastination patterns in individual and team sports athletes. Also we want to study the relationship between procrastination and athletes’ personal characteristics such as extroversion, neuroticism, control over the actions, motivation to success, anxiety, time perspective and decision-making style (coping), and also indicators of state anxiety using a sample of individual athletes (boxing, unarmed self-defence, judo, karate, kickboxing, wrestling, taekwondo) and teams (hockey, football, volleyball). Correlation analysis shows structural differences of procrastination manifestations in different types of sport. Regression analysis shows that in athletes of individual sports (model: p = 0,002, adjusted R2 = 0,368) there is only one significant predictor of procrastination - the negative past (p = 0,007, β = 0,495). The negative past (p = 0,003, β = 0,463), the control over the planning of the action (p = 0,05, β = -0.220) and the monitoring of the implementation of the action (p = 0,003, β = -0,465) are the predictors of procrastination in team sports (model: p = 0,002, adjusred R2 = 0,368)

Te Impact of Organizational and Personal Factors on Procrastination in Employees of a Modern Russian Industrial Enterprise

Background. Tis article addresses the infuence of personal, professional, and organizational factors on procrastination in employees of a modern Russian industrial enterprise. Procrastination has been studied extensively since the 1970s, producing great research material and diagnostic tools that remain relevant to this day. Yet despite the large number of studies, no single point of view has emerged on the causes of this phenomenon. Aim. To investigate how personal, professional, and organizational factors infuence procrastination in employees of a modern Russian industrial enterprise. Design. 120 employees of a Russian industrial enterprise participated in the study, including 70 women and 50 men, mean age 35 years, mean work experience in this enterprise 4.3 years. We used four diagnostic methods to characterize work activity and organizational culture, personal characteristics, and specifcity of an occupational stress syndrome. We used correlation and regression analysis to analyze the results. Results. Te data identifed signifcant personal, professional, and organizational predictors of procrastination in the modern professional, such as being outgoing (the quality of sociability), innovative, detail-conscious, and conscientious. Equally signifcant are characteristics of the work situation such as its content and the signifcance of tasks. A signifcant weight in the predictive value of the regression model lies in the robust consequences of professional stress (anxiety and depression), openness toward change in the organization, and social desirability. Conclusion. Te level of procrastination among the employees of this enterprise predicts typical behavior patterns in performing professional tasks, subjective appraisal of the job situation, the experience of stress and its consequences, and perception of the organizational culture