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

VESTNIK PERMSKOGO UNIVERSITETA. SERIYA FILOSOFIA PSIKHOLOGIYA SOTSIOLOGIYA

Issue 1 2022

Entire issue in PDF format

 

IV. PSYCHOLOGY «THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT» (SPECIAL ISSUE) 

I. Philosophy

II. Psychology

 III. Sociology

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.
 

The article is devoted to the study of psychological features of reproduction of a given sample by the
right and left hand of the subject in different psycho-emotional states. The relevance of the work is
due to the need to reduce the perceptual error when reproducing a sample in different learning
conditions. To this end, the subjects were asked to reproduce the sample set by the experimenter in a
state of calm wakefulness, in a stressful situation, and immediately after the stress experienced. The
accuracy of reproduction of the given sample was measured using a specially designed device that
allowed generating a general error within a given time. Fifteen students of the Smolensk State
University took part in the experiment. The study found that the accuracy of the sample reproduction
depends on the psycho-emotional state of a student. The state of calm wakefulness is optimal for
accurate reproduction of a strain gauge sample. Psychological features of the transfer of tensometric
skills of the hands are connected to the peculiarities of psychoemotional states and are not
elementary operational actions. The pattern of the distribution of the reproduction accuracy results
for the reproduction performed by the right and left hand of the subject in different psycho-emotional
states turned out to be different. The accuracy of reproducing the sample with the right hand in a
state of psychoemotional tension is lower than in a state of calm wakefulness. On the contrary, the
error of reproducing the sample with the left hand in a state of psychoemotional tension is lower. The
obtained results can be used in psychodiagnostics to clarify the features of experiencing the
psychoemotional states by subjects.
Keywords: sensory standard, perception, perception accuracy, reproduction error, skill transfer,
consciousness.

There exist rather contradictory interpretations of the concepts of sign and symbol. The author
explores a number of approaches to their distinction in order to indicate the most appropriate one.
Before proceeding to the approaches, the author turns to the concepts of a sign, sense and denotation,
and comes to a conclusion that one of the reasons for the ambiguity of the relationship between a
sign and a symbol lies in following the understanding of a sign and denotation provided by Frege. To
study the problem outside of Frege’s theory, the author defines a sign as nothing more or less than
what makes sense, and also expands the denotation by introducing the concept of an actual situation.
Then, based on the proposed understanding of a sign and also the features of the category of sense, it
is indicated what a sign or a symbol cannot be. In the course of consideration of various approaches
to the distinction between a sign and a symbol, the author comes to a conclusion that the most
promising of them is the separation of a special symbolic meaning. Despite the fact that both the sign
and the symbol, provided it becomes possible to distinguish between them, will be the same at the
level of the very presence of sense, we see the possibility of distinguishing a special, symbolic, sense
based on its depth or sublimeness. However, these concepts are vague, so the first thing to do is to
define a clear criterion that would make it possible to distinguish this symbolic sense among other
senses, without narrowing the concept of a sign in order to artificially create a symbolic sense in the
empty space left after such a narrowing.
Keywords: sign, symbol, sense, denotation, relation of a sign and a symbol, symbolic.

Culture is a synthetic characteristic of the level of development of human essence, manifested in
human activity and the results of this activity, which include philosophy. However, philosophy is not
an «ordinary» component of culture, it is «the quintessence of human culture» (Marx). The complexity
of understanding a person as a universal social being and the versatility of his activities are the factors
that determine the discussions in the interpretation of the essence of philosophy, its tasks, functions,
and role in public life. According to the well-known definition of Hegel, philosophy is an epoch
expressed in thoughts. To know an era or a particular society, it is necessary to study and understand
their philosophy since it is an indicator of the state the existing social reality is in. The historical
process is an expression of the developing human essence, which is also manifested in the development
of philosophy itself. However, this process is of a contradictory, heterogeneous character, with
powerful upsurges alternating with crises, which are also felt in philosophy itself. On the other hand,
the state of philosophy is not a simple mirror reflection of the nature of the processes taking place in
social reality. Here, as history shows, there is a mutual conditioning. Philosophy can contribute to the
deepening of crisis tendencies in public life, but it can also help bring society out of a deep crisis and
even change the vector of its historical movement.
Keywords: philosophy and social reality, crisis of civilization, intellectual crisis of modern society,
human depersonalization, desubjectivization of social individuals, postmodernism.

After the Japanese scientist Masahiro Mori first described the phenomenon that he called the
«Uncanny Valley», numerous attempts were made to explain it. However, the uncanny valley still
remains a problem not only for people who encounter it in technical production (robotics
engineers, programmers, and designers of anthropomorphic robots) but also for philosophy, in
particular, for philosophical anthropology and ontology. This article attempts not so much to
explain this phenomenon — this work primarily remains with psychologists, sociologists, and
philosophers who study the human mentality — but demonstrate a program to increase this 
problem into the schemas of some contemporary ontologies. We will follow Timothy Morton who
explores the uncanny valley in his books Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of
the World, Being Ecological, and in a number of articles. We will attempt to demonstrate the
insufficiency of both the «classical» (Modern) approaches to the analysis of the technical and the
tool analysis proposed by M. Heidegger in Being and Time. Then we will try to show that the
problem of the uncanny valley is only an example of the ontological gap the foundation for which
was laid by the Modern, and, therefore, its solution is only possible by diffusion it in broader
problems of the philosophy of technology. The implementation of such «diffusion» both in the
theoretical aspect of ontology and in the aspect of transformation of our practices — everyday,
mental, and industrial — can become one of the cornerstones in the foundation of the future
ecological coexistence of the human and non-human entities.
Keywords: «Uncanny Valley», human-robot interaction, tool analysis, M. Heidegger, ontological
gap, object-oriented philosophy, hyperobjects, G. Harman, T. Morton.

The article aims to analyze the process of management of natural dimension in man. It is shown that
the possibility of such management follows both from the general way of human existence and from
the dialectical subordination of the human (social, cultural) dimension and the natural dimension,
according to which the latter is included in the former and dependent on it. On the other hand, there
exist limits of this management: not the whole nature in man is socially determined, it preserves
wide autonomy, subordination to fundamental natural laws. Interaction between the social and the
natural is based on reciprocal co-determination, therefore, when managing his natural dimension,
man, according to the feedback principle, de facto influences himself. Thus, the problem of
preserving human essence, maintaining its holism becomes essential again. The work is novel in that
the management of man’s natural dimension is associated with the phenomenon of autopoiesis: man
at a new level realizes this tendency of active «self-creation», which is common to the living. At the
same time, it is critically important that it will be autopoiesis with a «human face»: this management
must be rationally justified, aimed at actualizing the natural potential already inherent in man. The
central question is about the subject of control: in the first approximation, it will be an individual,
due to the inalienability of his own vital principle, i.e. it will be a kind of self-management.
However, this does not negate the presence of supra-individual subjects that would control such
management (realize «management of management»), including its anthropological and social
acceptability. The presence of strong legal and moral regulators, taking into account the axiological
component, as well as the recognition of the fundamental fact that the management of the natural
dimension is not a goal itself but a means for a more complete and comprehensive self-realization of
man, only part of his holistic autopoiesis, will allow the latter to maintain humanistic orientation.
Keywords: man, nature, management, autopoiesis, subject, humanism, humanistic autopoiesis,
coevolution; co-determination.

The article examines the phenomenon of religious identity of young Muslim migrants in the city of
Kazan. The study is based on a premise that religious identity is a transforming phenomenon
influenced by personal experience, historical factors, and social changes. Among these, migration
appears to be a significant factor in the transformation of religious identity of individuals. In the
study of Muslim migrants’ identity transformation processes the author rests upon the work of L.
Peek distinguishing three forms of religious identity: ascribed, chosen, and declared. Each form of
identity replaces the previous when religiosity becomes deeper and the implementation of religious
practices becomes more conscious. Based on foreign methodology, the author of the article carried
out qualitative research in the city of Kazan using in-depth interviews to identify key stages in the
transformation of young Muslim migrants’ religious identity — ascribed, chosen, and declared. The
first is formed during primary socialization in an environment with the majority of the population
practising Islam and is taken for granted, not causing questions and reflection; the second is formed
as the individual grows up, transforming from the ascribed identity under the influence of reflection,
the external environment, and personal choice; the third is formed as a result of emigration and can
undergo relatively small changes during the person’s life.
Keywords: religious identity, ascribed religious identity, chosen religious identity, declared religious
identity, Islam, Muslims, migrants.

The socio-economic development of any single-industry territory mainly depends on the prosperity
of the city-forming enterprise, and this makes the city vulnerable, especially in crisis times. During
such periods, social well-being of the population worsens, protest moods increase, social tension
accrues, which can lead to open conflicts. The main problem lies in the timely detection of
potentially dangerous hotbeds of social explosion. Therefore, it is important to monitor changes in
the social moods for regulating the factors of social tension. As a hypothesis, it was suggested that
the social moods of residents of single-industry territories depend on the current socio-economic
situation: the mood is more optimistic in single-industry territories with a stable situation and is
pessimistic in single-industry territories with a difficult situation. There was conducted a survey
among the residents of single-industry territories of Khakassia (n=1,000). The results confirmed the
main hypothesis of the study. Social moods are more depressive in single-industry territories with
the most difficult economic situation. This is evidenced by negative assessments given by the
residents with regard to their life, low satisfaction, the lack of prospects for the situation to improve,
and dependent psychology — the expectation of help from the state. Despite the tense situation on
the labor market, social mood is more optimistic in single-industry territories only being at risk,
which may be due to more attractive living conditions. However, the results show that subjective
assessments have a more significant impact on social moods than quantitative indicators of living
standards. It proves the importance of non-economic mechanisms for regulating the factors of social
tension, which can be more effective, especially in times of crisis.
Keywords: single-industry town, single-industry territory, social mood, city-forming enterprise,
Khakassia.

Lev Vygotsky believed that scientific psychological research is impossible without reliance on a
scientific tradition, which allows accumulating the content of scientific knowledge. The work on
preserving and developing of Russian scientific psychological traditions is conducted in many
scientific centers. However, it is necessary to integrate such studies. This special issue on the history
of psychology is one of many efforts to such integration. Well-known researchers from Moscow, St.
Petersburg, and Yaroslavl have provided the results of investigations here. These papers deal with
questions of new or insufficiently explored methods of history of psychology, new approaches,
interpretations and assessments of the scientific past, temporal distance, and the position of the
history of psychology as an academic discipline.
Keywords: History of psychology, new methods, approaches and interpretations in the history of
psychology.

The article is devoted to a discussion of important methodological problems of the modern history of
psychology. It is argued that the history of psychology in Russia was formed as a separate area of
scientific and psychological knowledge, its methodological foundations were developed in research
works of several generations of scientists. Despite the advances of the modern Russian history of
psychology, there remain unresolved methodological problems, resulting in the lack of a full-fledged
universal history of psychology that would satisfactorily explain the development of psychological
science and characterize its prospects. The article discusses in detail the ideas on the development of
the history of psychology proposed by Russian scientist M.S. Rogovin in the 1960s. The historical
and psychological concept of M.S. Rogovin remains underestimated, and sometimes it is interpreted
incorrectly. Historical and psychological knowledge is considered by M.S. Rogovin as a unity of
subject and methodological knowledge, and psychology itself includes three different but interrelated
contents: pre-scientific, philosophical, and scientific, which interact throughout the history of
psychology. Rogovin distinguishes the external and internal history of psychology, considering it as
the dynamics of psychological concepts and the conditions that guide it. Rogovin is the founder of
conceptual analysis in the Russian history of psychology. The dynamics of concepts are considered
at three levels (facts as indicators of the movement of psychological concepts; internal relationships
between psychological concepts, their self-movement associated with the functioning of certain
psychological mechanisms; dynamics of concepts within the theoretical systems of modern
psychology). This article is the first to distinguish the stages in M.S. Rogovin’s work. At the third
stage (from the 1970s), the author develops a structural-level approach to the study of the psyche.
The article analyzes some provisions of the theory of M.S. Rogovin that are important for the
development of a non-linear (level) history of psychology. It is argued that the ideas expressed by
the author are of heuristic importance for the development of the history of psychology in the future.
Based on the ideas of M.S. Rogovin, it is possible to proceed to the development of the history of
psychology based on the level interpretation of the subject of psychology, the prospects of this
approach are assessed in the article.
Keywords: history of psychology, methodology of the history of psychology, unity of methodology
and history, M.S. Rogovin, structural-level approach to history, evolution of the subject of
psychology.

 

The article discusses the role of the history of psychology in the search for adequate solutions to the
methodological problems of psychological science. The most recent studies of consciousness, which
combine a meticulous study of anatomy and physiology of the brain with the help of modern
technology and introspective reports of the bearer of consciousness, differ little in their
methodological foundations from those of more than a century ago, which were subjected to sound
criticism for Cartesian dualism by L.S. Vygotsky and other representatives of cultural-historical
activity theory in psychology. L.S. Vygotsky’s distinction between perezhivanie (experience) and
scientific knowledge gives grounds to be critical of the assertion of some representatives and
supporters of analytic philosophy that it is impossible to have a scientific comprehension of
consciousness, which they identify with subjective reality. A comparative historical analysis of
psychological ideas of B. Spinoza, A.N. Leontiev, and E.V. Ilyenkov leads to a conclusion that, in
constructing his theory of activity, A.N. Leontiev was guided not by the official Soviet version of
Marxism («dialectical materialism») but by the provisions of authentic Marxism. The philosophers
of E.V. Ilyenkov’s circle fairly viewed Marxism as a continuation and development of Spinozism.
On this philosophical basis, A.N. Leontiev’s scientific school created the concept of activity as a
peculiar substance, with consciousness (and the psyche in general) being its function. This doctrine,
confirmed by numerous empirical studies and the practice of forming consciousness in ontogenesis,
is a good alternative to the Cartesian-oriented research on consciousness in modern cognitive
sciences, which has reached a methodological dead end. The paper also shows the role of archival
research in clarifying the origin and original meaning of terminology used in psychology. For
example, the study of transcripts of the 1948 discussions presented in A.N. Leontiev’s book An
Essay on the Development of the Psyche reveals that the phrase «the threefold scheme of analysis»
originally appeared in the speeches of Leontiev’s opponents, while these terms (later used by
Leontiev himself in his book Activity. Consciousness. Personality) only confuse the matter and do
not allow one to adequately understand the non-trivial view on activity as a substance of
consciousness developed by A.N. Leontiev’s school. In conclusion, the author argues that the special
attention of the international scientific community to the historical heritage of the founders of
cultural-activity psychology is due to its specific methodology, which makes it a «science of the
future» and, in turn, requires a new historical-psychological and theoretical reflection.
 
Keywords: history of psychology, analytic philosophy, consciousness, psychophysical problem,
Cartesianism, Spinozism, Marxism, activity, substance, cultural-activity psychology, L.S. Vygotsky,
A.N. Leontiev, E.V. Ilyenkov.

 

It is not often that professional historians of psychology study biographies as they prefer to limit
themselves to an introductory biographical sketch and focus more on the analysis of scientific works,
dominant theories, and methodologies of a particular historical period. The history of ideas seems to
be more important than the history of man of science. However, it is wrong to completely disregard
the personality of the person engaged in the process of scientific cognition. The destiny of ideas,
their development and implementation in public consciousness and practice depend on a person. In
the humanities, the human dimension of scientific knowledge is particularly pronounced. Here,
scientific theories, specific studies are so personal that they bring science closer to art. Biographical
studies of the life and work, talent and character of a scientist have their rightful place in the science
of science, as well as in the historico-psychological science. These studies tend to become
psychobiographical, they deal with the psychology of the subject of scientific cognition. The subject
of the study is the creative individuality and life path of the leader of the St. Petersburg school of
thought in the Soviet period, B.G. Ananiev. His work depended on specific socio-historical
situations, the demands of society and the state, but was still performed in spite of historical
obstacles. The life and scientific activity of the scientist were intrinsically motivated. The biography
showed the importance of the scientist’s age as a factor of creativity and social, civic behavior. From
this point of view, one can see such personality traits as the energy of a start in youth, enthusiasm
and a change in attitude to life time due to age and individual characteristics. At the last phase of his
life, despite physical ailments, B.G. Ananiev intensified his work trying to achieve his cherished
goals in scientific knowledge. To a large extent, he succeeded. Over time, his contribution to
psychology becomes more and more obvious. The prospects of the scientist’s ideas and research are
confirmed in the 21st century.
Keywords: B.G. Ananiev, three dimensions of scientific development, psychobiography of a
scientist, biographical psychology, features of psychobiographical research.

The article draws attention to the problem of scarcity of historical and psychological research on the
post-Soviet period of Russian psychology. Based on the analysis of the content of textbooks,
dissertation research, and scientific publications, a conclusion is made about the insufficient
coverage of facts, personalities, events, and factors of the formation of psychological science,
practice, and education in the specified period. The paper notes the fragmented nature of the
available data in publications devoted to individual personalities or subject areas and identifies the
publications that can be regarded as laying groundwork for the development of the historiography of
the period. It is shown that in recent decades the historiography of Russian psychology has mainly
focused on the tasks of rediscovering and rethinking the pre-revolutionary and Soviet periods.
Assumptions are made about the determinants of the historiographical gap of the period under
consideration, including the following: the illusion of modernity in the last three decades; the
historical and political incompleteness of the period; methodological and axiological unpreparedness
of the psychological community for a holistic, open-minded, and multivariate discussion of the
period. The objectives of the holistic panoramic historiography of the post-Soviet period are as
follows: the identification of the main features of the context, factors of influence, events,
microperiods, and leading personalities of the period; the identification of the main institutional
changes in the organization of science, psychological education, and practice; systematization of the
main advances and losses, innovations and contradictions. To solve the tasks set, in addition to
traditional methods of documentary analysis being employed, it is proposed to actively use the
methods of autobiography and interviewing living witnesses of the post-Soviet period. The
difficulties of the historiography of the period include: the uncertainty of the temporal depth of the
«beginning of history»; the need to substantiate the status of the event behind selected historical
moments; the importance of choosing the proper historical, axiological, and methodological
approaches to analysis and generalization; the recognition of the possibility of alternative versions of
history in multiple interpretations of facts and personal assessments of contemporaries.
Keywords: historiography, history of psychology, post-Soviet psychology, the future of psychology.

Based on the analysis of modern Russian research on the history of psychology, two important trends
in such research have been identified — the reflection of theoretical and methodological foundations
and the use of scientometric methods. The paper deals with the analysis of the dynamics of Russian
dissertation research works containing the categories «temperament» and «character» in their titles;
the period under study is 1992–2018. In total, the data of 128 dissertations defended in the Russian
Federation during the specified period were analyzed. To structure the thematic focus of these
dissertations (in accordance with V.A. Ganzen’s requirements of a systematic description of any
object), the following elements (units) of the classification were used: phenomenology; varieties
(types); the structure and the constituent elements; object as a substructure; the relationship of the
object with other phenomena; variability and dynamics of the object; factors affecting the state of the
object; methods of influence on the object; diagnostics of the object’s state; study history. The study
provides a description and structuring of the data arrays formed by the authors of the paper for the
specified dissertations taking into account the studied samples and centers for preparing such
dissertations, their thematic focus, and scientific specialties. Based on the analysis of the number of
prepared and defended dissertations, the dynamics (by three-year periods) of the development of the
thematic space including the sought categories was revealed. The authors also compared the
dynamics of dissertations in psychological sciences and pedagogical sciences for the same three-year
periods and conducted a comparative analysis of the relative indicators of the preparation of
dissertations in psychological sciences with the considered categories in the titles and other scientific
papers. The analysis showed a consistently low interest of modern Russian researchers in studying 
these categories. Based on the analysis of data on dissertations prepared in the Soviet period, it was
concluded that the category of «temperament» was intensively developed at that time (until 1992).
The paper also formulates some limitations of the use of quantitative methods identified in the
course of study.
Keywords: publication counting methods, comparative method, Russian dissertations, temperament,
character, personality, scientometrics, bibliometrics, B.G. Ananiev, V.A. Gansen.