Psychological Thought

106-110

Authors: Lubomir Stoev Georgiev

The tasks of the contemporary psychology are related to the study of mental energy; health improvement; enhancement of educational attractiveness, including by means of use of electronic devices in the educational process; informing the society regarding the sensitive stages in human development; elaboration of psycho-diagnostic opportunities by means of creation of new instruments and improvement of non-verbal recognition of mental phenomena; enhancing psychological competences regarding the offer of more models that explain mental phenomena, etc.

124-126

Authors: Makoto Yamaguchi

Psychologists have applied the mathematical concept of an equivalence relation to such topics as concept formation and foundations of language. This line of research is not without controversies, and most researchers have only intuitive understanding of this mathematical concept. In this article, accessible explanations are provided on fundamental issues that have implications for empirical research.

134-143

Authors: Irina Roncaglia

The aim of this paper is to present an understanding of the coping mechanisms and coping styles adopted by individuals on the Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) by looking to draw parallels with sports performance psychology and how different sources of stress and anxiety can lead to the adoption of different coping styles. Firstly, an overview of current understanding of what constitute a stressor and how this can affect an individual is presented from sport and exercise psychology literature. Secondly, a model of coping styles is illustrated with the aim to shed light at how different perceptions of levels of stress and anxiety are managed both on an individual and group level. Thirdly, within the context of this understanding, some examples about how to support individuals on the ASC will be illustrated. Finally, implications for future research and reflection will be presented by highlighting the importance of teaching and learning coping and tolerance skills as part of a comprehensive and holistic psycho-educational program.

156-167

Authors: Choon Hee Ong

The purpose of this study is to identify the goal orientation of adult students in the Malaysian context. The finding of this study shows that mastery goal orientation registered the highest mean among the adult students. Therefore, the adult students were found to have adopted mastery goal orientation in their learning process. The analysis of t-Test and One-Way ANOVA indicates that there were no significant group differences in the mean scores of mastery goal orientation among gender, age group and years of experience of the respondents. In addition, this study also attempts to offer the higher education institutions to understand the students’ learning strategies by knowing their goal orientation. It provides information on how deep learning strategies can be integrated with mastery goal orientation so that they are in line to produce better learning outcomes. It is recommended in this study that deep learning methods such as flexible learning and problem-based learning can be used to encourage students to take greater responsibilities for their learning outcomes. In this respect, they will be able to interact with the facilitator on the course material in a more practical and analytical manner. In terms of future research, this study provides validated measures of goal orientation which can be used by future researchers in the similar research setting.

179-186

Authors: Nikolay Ivantchev, Sasho Yordanov

Psychological defense contributes to avoidance of anxiety and any other negative emotions, blocking the real impact of certain threats. Defense mechanisms are our body’s natural way of overcoming of one’s internal conflicts by changing the way we process information about our surroundings thus allowing us to avoid the loss of self-control when placed in a conflict situation. The use of the defense mechanisms negation, reaction formation and pseudo-altruism by these ones learning combat sports was studied. These defense mechanisms form the self-sacrificing defense style. There are some significant gender and age differences, as well as in the type of combat sport regarding the used defense mechanisms. The women practicing combat sports more often used the defense mechanism pseudo-altruism and the self-sacrificing defense style. The latter was preferred by these ones who practiced judo, and these ones who practiced sambo used more often reaction formation. The sportsmen more advanced in age used more often pseudo-altruism.