Psychology and Psychotechnics - rubric Crowd psychology

Abstract: The subject of the research is the peculiarities of student youth's perception of the phenomenon of extermism. The aim of the research is to discover the dependence of the the dependence of the perception of extremism by a group of young students on the socio-psychological factors for constructing a multidimensional typology of the perception of extremism by young people as the basis of psychological preventive measures. The features of the relationship between the results of the thematic and frequency content analysis of associations with extremism and personal characteristics of students have been identified. The study was based on the assumption that students' attitudes toward extremism depend on a combination of socio-psychological factors such as gender, age, family structure, profession, trust in people and society, meaningful life orientations, and the level of satisfaction with life. The interdisciplinary research model was based on the combination of psycholinguistic and psychodiagnostic measurements (LSS, Rosenberg Confidence Scale, Quality of Life Survey and Satisfaction Survey), associative experiment, content analysis, cross tabulation and cluster analysis. The hypothesis of the study: the attitude of young people to extremism depends on certain psychological systemic dependencies of associative and personal characteristics. As a result of the study, two invariant semantic concepts were identified: ideological, political and psychological associations. The identified semantic richness of associative fields demonstrates vagueness and inclusive uncertainty in the understanding of extremism among students. The clustering of psychodiagnostic variables and associations of extremism made it possible to isolate the similarities and differences in the understanding of extremism depending on gender, which must be taken into account when carrying out preventive measures for the spread of extremism.

Keywords: frequency analysis, cluster analysis, sense of life orientation, associative experiment, psychodiagnostics, content analysis, semantic fields, Youth extremism, association, student youth

Abstract: By touching upon the questions related to the mental structure of nations, we are entering the sphere of researches which excel neither in acute methods nor in proved facts. Mental anthropology actually does not exist as a science because a so-called ethno-psychology actually studies psychology of collective life, so it has a completely different circle of researches. The author well shows what ethnic psychology was like a century ago and what its today’s perspectives are.

Keywords: psychology, mental races, psyche, psychic character, types, anthropology, ethnopsychology, physiology, civilization, eugenics.

Abstract: The article is devoted to the problem of interaction between the discourse and power institutions with reference to totalitarianism. The author describes the origins of ‘homo erotic’ nature of such interaction which go back to Minoan culture, then — Antique culture, Christianity and the modern culture. The author describes the psychological discourse strategies connected with the function of the power and discusses unconscious contents which form and ‘read’ them. The article also describes genesis of these contents in culture and history and their manifestations in psycho cultural phenomena at different times. The main goal of the study is to define conditions for modern interpretation and cultural transmission of totalitarian practices which are common not only for totalitarian regimes.

Keywords: psychology, discourse, power, cultural genesis, homo erotic, totalitarianism, unconsciousness, myth, psychotechnics, society.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2024.1.69738

Abstract: Nowadays Russian society is experiencing changes in attitudes towards various social phenomena and processes, among which the attitude towards economic inequality takes a special place. The consideration of the social-psychological aspects of the attitude to economic inequality in the scientific literature is insufficiently reflected. The study of the peculiarities of attitudes towards inequality will make it possible to clarify public attitudes and attitudes necessary for further social and economic reforms. In addition, traditional research methods do not always reflect representative characteristics of the population's attitude to various social problems, so there is a need to develop a more relevant method (economic-psychological experiment) to identify personal aspects of respondents' economic behavior. The aim was to study the features of the Russian population’s attitude to economic inequality in society by the economic-psychological experiment and substantiating this method as promising for studying attitudes towards social and economic phenomena. Focus groups, which included group interviews and discussions on problems of inequality; a survey aimed at examining attitudes towards inequality and behavior in relation to charity; an economic and psychological experiment (quasi-experiment), in the framework of which situations were simulated for respondents to make economic decisions (choosing a society for a hypothetical grandson). Russian respondents equally want to live both in a risk unequal society, to get higher incomes, and in a society with fixed average incomes. Most Russians are not ready to give up part of their income in order to help those who live worse. The attitude to inequality (the preference of equal and unequal societies) among Russian respondents does not change in any simulated economic conditions. The results obtained using the economic-psychological experiment represent original aspects of respondents' attitudes towards economic inequality in comparison with survey and testing methods.

Keywords: risk society, Russian society, income distribution, experimental situation, experimental economics, attitude to inequality, economic inequality, equal society, economic psychology, income

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.2.14378

Abstract: The authors of this article carry out the analysis of transactional interactions between people as a mechanism of suggestibility in major groups. They give a short review of suggestibility as a complex phenomenon as well as a brief overview of major theories of suggestibility. The authors provide a list of the main concepts developed in the transactional analysis of Eric Berne and examine the following: theories of personality, social interaction and conception of psychological “hungers”. The emphasis is made on some proximity between theories of classical psychoanalysis and transactional analysis when it comes to the nature of suggestibility. The authors also provide historical examples that illustrate the described approach to understanding the nature of human relationships. The main research method used in the article is a systems analysis of Russian and foreign literature on suggestibility. For the first time in the academic literature suggestibility is analyzed from both medical and socio-psychological points of view which allows to clearly distinguish it from the concept of hypnoability. This is also the first research to analyze suggestibility in major groups in terms of the transactional analysis. Conclusions: suggestibility is a complex system phenomenon that cannot be interpreted one-dimensionally; and suggestibility in major groups is a consequence of the mass entering of people in the Child's ego-state.

Keywords: Parent, manipulation with consciousness, suggestibility, transactional analysis, theory of personality, transaction, ego-state, Adult, Child, psychological “hunger”

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.2.66255

Keywords: Parent, manipulation with consciousness, suggestibility, transactional analysis, theory of personality, transaction, ego-state, Adult, Child, psychological “hunger”

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.3.62513

Abstract: The author of the article raises a question about the nature of vampirism. The author distinguishes the two different images of vampires and analyzes certain features thought to be typical for vampires: ambivalence of image, relation to blood, fatality of fate and etc. The author also compares the image of a vampire with the image of a kosmogual in Vadim Rozin’s novels and makes a hypothesis that modern interest towards vampires is due to the phenomenon of a new selfishness. From this point of view, the two different attitudes to vampires are described: the first one is based on the fear of vampires and the second one is based on certain sympathy and compassion towards them.

Keywords: psychology, vampires, energy, life, death, fear, realization, emotion, consciousness, understanding.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.4.14573

Abstract: Being a widely occuring form of extremism in the modern army, the phenomenon of dedovshchina or hazing is characterized by the non-statutory (violent) relations humiliating human dignity among the military personnel of conscription service. In her article Popova examines qualitative levels and hazing modalities (such as sociocultural, philosophical and psychological, ethical modalities ) demonstrating a variety of the factors influencing aggression and distribution of violence in the army environment. The psychological mechanisms ensuring psychological safety and moral complacency are also considered. These include moral justification, substitution of notions, favorable comparison, responsibility rearrangement, distribution of responsibility, ignoring or distortion of consequences, dehumanization, and attributing of fault. The author is guided by the conceptual provisions of A. Bandura's psyhology who defined the most typical justificatory mechanisms allowing to deviate from strict moral claims without feelings self-disrespect. Analysing the philosophical and psychological factors of "dedovshchina" as some kind of justificatory mechanisms of this phenomenon, the author comes to the conclusion that they act as patterns of avoidance of self-punishment and loss of self-esteem owing to commission of reprehensible actions. They can not be articulated at the time of commission of an act of violence, but, as a rule, are present at the subsequent reflection over the behavior when there is a conflict of the values created by the army environment and social values where the idea of violence is either disadvantaged or hidden.

Keywords: psychological factors of hazing, hazing, dedovshchina, human design, ethics of war, violence in the army, sociocultural factors of violence, violence and non-violence, non-violence philosophy, psychology of army service, ethics of non-violence

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.4.66450

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.4.11392

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.4.64213

Abstract: The author of the present research article makes an attempt to create theoretical grounds for the theory of extremism psychosemantics. Psychosemantics is the branch of psychology that studies the picture of the world of individuals and collective subjects. The phenomenon of extremism is usually associated with studies of the most important components of the system of values and meanings, attitudes and stereotypes that are common in different age and ethnic groups. The author makes an assumption that there is a certain psychological (semantic) structure of the phenomenon of extremism. This structure consists of different types of definitions and categorical structures that ‘classify’ this phenomenon and different forms of the phenomenon at different levels of interaction with a subject or a group. Psychosemantic methods that are used to study the phenomenon of extremism are usually aimed at reenactment of implicit personality theories describing this phenomenon. These methods allow to combine the definition of the studied phenomenon with other definitions and systems of definitions as well as to define and explain the most significant combinations and connections. The scientific important and novelty of the research is the assumption about the existence of the psychological (semantic) structure of extremism that can consist of different types of definitions and categorical structures that ‘classify’ this phenomenon. The author also offers the implicit model of extremism psychosemantics. Conclusions: psychosemantics of extremism allows a more profound research of the essential characteristics of the phenomenon of extremism, in particular, how systems of definitions are presented in different contexts and how they appear at the unconscious and conscious levels in respect to the phenomenon of extremism and forms of extremism.

Keywords: psychosemantics, extremism, picture of the world, implicit personality theories, categorical structures, reconstruction, models, systems of definitions, classification methods, semantic space, mental map.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.6.15501

Abstract: The article touches upon motivational and role determinants of a virtual discourse, general features and types of such a discourse. The authors describe the following features of a virtual discourse: cultural conditionality, communicative nature, frequent returning to the point at issue, original slang, interactivity and tolerance of a discourse. It is noticed that development of vertical and horizontal social communications among members of virtual communities partly promotes formation of noncommercial sector in structure of the modern state and, on occasion, can influence socially significant events in the life of society. The research methodology consists of the information-semiotic approach considering public interaction as the world of the social information being accumulated and kept by means of signs created by people; Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, theories of social action of Jurgen Habermas and the concept social practices offered by Bourdieu. As a result of the carried out research, the authors conclude that the motivational potential of a virtual discourse is presented by motives and needs including psychological release, self-actualization and professional growth, satisfaction of the need for safety and anonymity, recognition and respect, and others. The discourse in the virtual subculture bears the impress of the socio-cultural space and provides for the performance of some functions, in particular, information function and development of the social image. The role determinants of a virtual discourse include rating assessment, hierarchy of users and structural constructs forming a pyramid of ranks on the basis of assessed levels of activity of users. Considering the number of comments or the volume of the created content, users are assigned ranks that raise their status and encourage their activity.

Keywords: status of the user, cyberspace, Internet communities, virtual environment, discourse, motivation, needs, role determinants, rating of the user, network dialogue

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.6.66634

Keywords: status of the user, cyberspace, Internet communities, virtual environment, discourse, motivation, needs, role determinants, rating of the user, network dialogue

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2016.7.20637

Abstract: The article presents the results of the empirical research studying the influence of medianews on the emotional well-being of media audience in regions. Quite often mass media dramatizes real events and aggravates unusual or abnormal nature of this or that event, thus creating negative emotional states such as anxiety or fear. With that in mind, Barinov aims his research of the emotional effect of news at defining peculiar conditions when anxiety and fear arise as a result of watching or listening to media news. The instruments used in the course of the research are based on the methods tested and proved by modern media researches. The theoretical basis of the research consists of scientific publications in teh sphere of sociology of mass communication and sociological research of social fears. The followoing conclusions have been made. Besides the factor of involving regions' audience into the process of medianews consumption, the nature of emotional states are also influenced by sociodemographic factors. Apparently, representatives of social groups extrapolate rules of cultural behavior regarding expressing emotions, values, attitudes and evaluations on news which either intensifies or weakens the role of such information in generation of fears and anxiety. Social groups whose positions within social relations can be described as unstable, insecure or uncertain are especially vulnerable and susceptible to fear-generating mass media information.

Keywords: mass media influence, public mood, mass psychology, emotional well-being, social fears, agenda-setting, news media, media audience, sociology of mass communications, media practice

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2016.7.68313

Keywords: mass media influence, public mood, mass psychology, emotional well-being, social fears, agenda-setting, news media, media audience, sociology of mass communications, media practice

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.7.62962

Abstract: The article studies the philosophical and psychological phenomenon of success in social activity. In particular, the author defines sufficient grounds for psychology and philosophy of success of music conducting. The author studies such moments in conductor’s activity as mass hypnosis, crowd contagion and just and successful management. In the first part of the article ‘Audience as the purpose and grounds of success’, the author shows that the crowd is naturally an aggressive and destructing social formation. A crowd can be 1) naturally formed or 2) forced to form. When studying the positive features of crowds, the author saw that aggression and destructiveness of crowds were neutralized in pa in music groups. In particular, choirs have an amazing feature of self-relaxation. People there are tolerant towards each other because 1) they are engaged in singing together b) they are equal. Besides those external features, a conductor also has two internal, personal methods of managing groups of people: a) hypnosis b) psychological ‘contagion’. A conductor becomes successful if he uses the aforesaid methods of management. The second part of the article ‘Requiem as special semantics of success’ is devoted to the opposition of the two existential issues – love and death. Based on the study, tragedy is especially popular and beneficial in show business and modern musical art. Combining ontological, philosophical truth and an attempt to look outside the borders of existence, the genre of requiem can bring a human to existential insight and understanding of his personal life. Working with the genre of requiem, a conductor can actually achieve excellence and become a brilliant leader of a music group. Thus, this is for the first time ever that conductor’s activity is viewed not from the point of view of musical art or cultural research but psychological and philosophicalcultural approach. Such terms as mass activity, psychology of crowd and leader’s successful management are also discussed. The author offers a new term ‘requiemability’ for describing one form of the grounds for success on stage.

Keywords: psychology, success, management, mass, requiem, death, love, music conductor, leader, music.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.8.15809

Abstract: The article presents the analysis of the play and scenario interaction between people as elements of the role mechanism of suggestibility in a large group. The authors provide a brief overview of the problem of differentiation between suggestibility and hypnoability, methodological difficulties in their study, different theories to explain this phenomenon and describe its interdisciplinary and systemic nature. They view the concept of humn depreciation of himself and those around him, and the symbiotic relationship with mothers within the framework of the transactional analysis offered by Eric Berne. This is followed by the theory of psychological games where the central place is occupied by "games of power", as well as the system of role interaction proposed by Stephen Karpan. Then there is the concept of life scripts, the description of which begins with the analysis of the four basic existential positions of a man. The authors examine the mechanism of formation of a life script through the assimilation of the parent's guidelines as well as the two types of life scripts, heroic and not heroic. At the end of the article, there are historical examples that illustrate the described approach to understanding the nature of human relationships. The primary method of research in this article is a system analysis of Russian and foreign literature on the problem of suggestibility. For the first time in the academic literature suggestibility is being analyzed from the point of view of games and scenario interaction which allows to expand the understanding of the role mechanism. Conclusions: suggestibility is a complex system phenomenon which can't be studied from only one point of view; in large groups suggestibility is a result of human depreciation of himself and his tendency to build relationships with the powerful ones in the form of particular psychological games and life scripts which is very well demonstrated by the example of role relations.

Keywords: life script, symbiosis, suggestibility, transactional analysis, manipulation of consciousness, existential life position, depreciation, psychological games, passive behavior, hypnoability

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2015.8.66990

Keywords: life script, symbiosis, suggestibility, transactional analysis, manipulation of consciousness, existential life position, depreciation, psychological games, passive behavior, hypnoability

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.9.8740

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.9.63231

Abstract: In modern political theory it has already become customary to focus on such topics as political systems, ideologies and political leadership. However, a whole range of issues within these topics are not analyzed. The phenomenon of political marginality is one o such issues. The author of the article analyzes the phenomenon of political marginality and leadership of political marginals. This phenomenon usually describes oppositional leaders who either try to limit their opposition or, on the contrary, start confrontation with the political system. Political psychology usually views political leaders as already established political agents even when they do not have any leadership skills. The author of the article offers a description of different types of political marginals. The author achieves it by expanding the borders of political studies and addressing to modern researches of organizational psychology in transformational, i.e. constantly changing leadership. Transformational leadership symbolizes a certain behavior of leaders that motives workers to follow corporate targets and interests. As a result of his analysis, the author describes the two types of leaders: populist leader and ideologically-driven leader.

Keywords: manipulative ideologies, political psychology, organizational psychology, populism, transformational leadership, political leadership, political marginality, charisma, populist leader, ideologically-driven leader.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.9.12781

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.9.65501

Abstract: The current crisis of the transfer of historical experience conditions the importance of the subject under research chosen by the author: analysis of historical memory, socio-cultural and psychological mechanisms of intergeneration transfer of traumatic experience and their role in formation of the identity of the second generation of survivors in Israel and Eastern Europe after the Holocaust. Special attention is paid to psychological defense mechanisms aimed at restoring national identity that were activated in the process of transfer of traumatic experience at different stages of the development of Israeli society’s attitudes towards the Holocaust, especially that of the Jewish people in Eastern Europe. The authors also discuss stages of integration of traumatic experience into the national identity structure. The research was carried out at the interface between different research methodologies and involved the methods of comparative cultural historical analysis, clinical psychological reflection based on acute social phenomena as well as phenomenological methods of studying evidence and life stories. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, the authors show the complexity and sensitivity of the process of overcoming traumatic experience and describe stages of integration of traumatic experience into the historical memory and peculiarities of formation of the second generation identity. The research of social and psychological mechanisms of identity formation has allowed to define both differences and similarities in how people deal with the memory of traumatic events in different social cultural environments. The authors show that despite common attempts to institutionalize the Holocaust experience, there had been a number of problems related its transfer and integration which was later accompanied with different types of defense mechanisms in other succeeding generations. Individual inter-generation transfer of experience has created a complex internal dialogue in the minds and national identities of the second generation. The authors conclude that the phenomenon of national identity is included both in the historical memory (including different ideological transformations) and socio-cultural situation of modern times which creates particular types of memories, their understanding and ideological interpretations.

Keywords: historical memory, identity, traumatic experience, intergeneration transfer, the Holocaust, the second generation, cultural historical analysis, Israel, Eastern Europe, clinical psychology.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.11.9132

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2013.11.63516

Abstract: The phenomenon of crowd defined an intensive development of crowd psychology as an independent branch of psychology. Starting from Gabriel Tarde and Herbert Spencer history has been conceived from the point of view of philosophy, social studies and psychology. However, most of the researches conducted by social psychologists have been inefficient. Michele-Louis Rouquette, Serge Moscovici and Elias Canetti offered numerous classifications and defined a great number of local mechanisms, however, their researches lacked integration with branches of global psychology. Current branches of psychology and crowd psychology develop independently. However, crowd psychology is particularly viewed in classical psychoanalysis, analytical psychology, transpersonal psychology and so on. Close interaction between the aforesaid branches of psychology and social psychology solves a number of problems and questions raised by social psychology. Lack of integration between branches and disciplines causes even more problems with conceptualization and terminology. A significant breakthrough appears when analytical psychology is matched to modern achievements in social researches of crowd.