Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2018

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Authors: Dennis Relojo

Mental disorders contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, as 4 out of the 10 diseases with the highest burden are psychiatric. About 25% of all develop one or more psychiatric and behavioural disorders during their lifetime. Unipolar depression ranges as the leading mental disorder with respect to disability adjusted life years. The major psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and depression are found in all cultures and result in significant disability. As a result, the cost of mental disorders worldwide needs receiving increasing recognition (Kastrup & Ramos, 2007). Mental health is a global problem – one that needs greater worldwide attention because until now this has not been achieved. For instance, in the US, the world's sliding superpower, the prisons are the functioning mental-health-care system (Kleinman, 2009). Somewhere between a third and a half of all the homeless people in American cities suffer from mental illness.

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Authors: Desislava Ivanova

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is empirically validated psychotherapeutic approach, which uses Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model. EMDR can be applied when working with the consequences of psychological trauma and a wide range of other negative life experiences, excluding organic deficits, intoxication, and injury. EMDR therapy is conceptualized in eight phases, consisting of standardized protocols and procedures, which make easier the complete assessment of the clinical picture, patient preparation and the treatment of: past events, which place the foundations of pathology, current adverse situations and future challenges. The main focus of the therapy is the system that processes information in the brain. All dysfunctional characteristic traits, behaviors, beliefs, affects, and physical sensations are viewed from the perspective of (AIP) model as manifestations of unprocessed memories, encoded during a traumatic experience.

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Authors: Stavroula-Vera Strychnou

This research was conducted to explore and compare the attitudes of Greek educators towards immigrant children and children with special educational needs, as well as to establish some social-demographic differences in Greek teachers’ attitudes. The research tool used in this research was the questionnaire. The scale of answering was a five-degree Likert scale, and only one question was yes/no. The statistical program used for statistical analysis of the data was the IBM SPSS program. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and chi-square analysis were used. The sampling method used in the present research was the feasibility sampling, and even the homogeneity technique was used. In this research, all the participants were educators. The research sample consisted of 150 participants. Modern Greek schools contain to a large extent migrant students and students with special educational needs. Based on this research, there were found several similarities in Greek teachers’ attitudes towards immigrant students and students with special educational needs, but there were also some differences. The most negative attitudes towards immigrant students were expressed overtly by the male Greek teachers, at 18-29 years old, married, with one child, teaching history in secondary education, with the period of educational experience of 11-20 years, and the most negative attitudes towards the students with special educational needs were expressed overtly by the female Greek teachers, with PhD, in bad or very good economic situation, divorced, teaching in primary school for more than 10 years at school. The Greek school, although it is a "mosaic of students" with different educational, cognitive, political, social, economic, historical, linguistic and cultural specifics, insists on its monocultural orientation, the rejection of diversity, isolation, and stereotypes. Given these results, it is necessary in the future to explore the effective ways to reduce these perceptions, if not destroy them.

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page

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Authors: Vaitsa Giannouli

The field of Music Psychology has grown in the past 20 years, to emerge from being just a minor topic to one of mainstream interest within the brain sciences (Hallam, Cross, & Thaut, 2011). Despite the plethora of research attempts to examine the so-called hotly disputed “Mozart effect” which was first reported by Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (1993, 1995), we still know little about it. This group of researchers were the first to support experimentally that visuospatial processing was enhanced in participants following exposure to Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (K.448). Although the first research attempts referred to the Mozart effect as an easy way of improving cognitive performance immediately after passive music listening to Mozart’s sonata K. 448 (Chabris, 1999), after which healthy young adult students could perform with enhanced spatial- temporal abilities in tasks such as the Paper Folding Task (PFT), nowadays there is a number of studies indicating that this specific music excerpt does not necessarily have this magical influence on all cognitive abilities (e.g. on the overall Intelligence Quotient) in humans and on the behavior of animals (for a review see Giannouli, Tsolaki & Kargopoulos, 2010). In addition to that, questions arise whether listening to this ‘magic music excerpt’ does indeed have benefits that generalize across a wide range of cognitive performance, and if it can induce changes that are of importance for medical and therapeutic purposes in patients with neurological disorders (e.g. epilepsy) or psychiatric disorders (e.g. dementia, depression) (Verrusio et al., 2015).

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Authors: Vaitsa Giannouli, Nikolaos Syrmos

Few studies have examined longitudinally depression, stress and cognition in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (HT) under levothyroxine (LT4) treatment. Although HT is claimed to cause several mood changes and cognitive deficits in patients who are left untreated, we still know little about the longitudinal profile of these patients when they are under stable treatment. Sixteen middle-aged euthyroid HT women and sixteen healthy control women were examined with a detailed neuropsychological battery covering different cognitive functions (attention, visual and verbal memory, executive functions and mood), and with thyroid functions tests at three time points at one and two years post-baseline. Depression and perceived stress, along with verbal and visual memory were found to be stable at a two-year retesting in euthyroid HT women. Only TMT-Parts A and B deteriorated at one and two years in euthyroid HT. Although impaired performance in attention and executive deficits are linked with heighted levels of depression and stress, here they were not accompanied by changes in mood. The present study failed to detect any noticeable changes longitudinally in the cognitive and emotional function in euthyroid HT women under stable and continuous LT4 treatment. Patients’ restricted deficits may indicate that the decline in attention and executive functioning performance might be related to the effects of a specific progressive degenerative process associated with the disorder, rather than the effects of aging.

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Authors: Khatuna Martsksvishvili, Nino Abuladze, Natia Sordia, Aljoscha Neubauer

The concept of emotional creativity is based on a social constructivist theory of emotion and refers to an individual’s ability to experience and express novel, sincere, and effective mixtures of emotions. The present research examines the psychometric properties of the Georgian version of Emotional Creativity Inventory (G-ECI; Averill, 1999). 834 individuals across five studies completed the G-ECI. Results from exploratory factor analysis indicate that the factor structure of the original ECI broadly replicates in the Georgian translation. The Cronbach’s alpha reliabilities of the G-ECI scales are mostly acceptable. There are significant gender differences. Examining the construct validity of G-ECI with other constructs (namely, with emotional intelligence, creativity and flow) showed the expected relationships. In conclusion, the Georgian version of the emotional creativity inventory seems well suited for future research purposes.

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Authors: Dennis Relojo, Rona dela Rosa

The act of written emotional disclosure has been widely studied for the past several decades. Yet, in spite of this, there are limited studies which examine the interplay of expressive writing, self-compassion and positive affect, along with its potential to augment ego identity among students. Using repeated measures experimental design, the present research explored the efficacy of expressive writing in improving levels of positive affect among university students ageing 18-25 (M = 19.23; SD = 1.21). Participants were tested in groups and wrote either about life goals (n = 46), positive experiences (n = 49) or a control topic (n = 46). Two separate three-way ANOVA were carried out to investigate whether writing about life goals has an impact on the students’ positive affect. It further examined how students could benefit according to their self-compassion levels. Regardless of the form of expressive writing, students did not significantly differ on the levels of positive affect. The results of this study are aimed at designing intervention for students to help them develop their ego identity. Future studies employing randomised, controlled designs are warranted.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End page

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 10-2, PPC, 2016

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Authors: Sergiy Boltivets

The future of psychological science as we see it depends on our ability to understand the phenomenon of psychogenity of man and of the groups of people in their significance to himself and to every other human being. Psychogenity as we define it, is an ability of the humanized environment to create, reflect, transform, save and expose the constellation of psychic manifestations of the own natural essence of every man as a psychological unity. We consider the humanized environment in the sense broader than that of the social environment as we keep in mind not only the mutual influence of people, but also the fact that human life is mediated by the human environment. The latter is one of the most important components equilibrating human psychogenity, the world exists for man only in its humanized sense.

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Authors: Maria Annarumma, Luigi Vitale, Olga Campiglia

The analysis of the reason-emotion dynamics intersects several disciplinary fields, such as psychology, medicine, informatics, linguistics, neuroscience, with a specific relevance for Education Sciences, as it offers interesting perspectives over its influence on the learning process. Such issues are rooted in philosophical reflections by Plato, Aristotle and later by Descartes, Vico and Kant. These dualistic perspectives will be definitively abandoned in favour of a globalist vision of the mind-body relationship, during the first half of the XX century, particularly thanks to Dewey (1933) who, inspired by Darwin’s theories, was the first to support this unity by recognizing an intersection among physical, mental and environmental processes. Over the last decades, an imperatively anti-dualistic analysis has been developing in the field of neurosciences and cognitive linguistics: on the one hand, cognitivism, considering the mind in its function of symbolic manipulation; on the other hand, connectionism, studying neural networks. Furthermore, recent scientific research has allowed mapping in a detailed - albeit admittedly incomplete manner - the complex activity of the brain and highlighting analogies between elementary connections and complex interactions. The systemic perspective is hence considering “mind and body”, “reason and emotion” as two interconnected and essential aspects of human complexity. In this regard, Damasio’s research shows how participation of the organism to conscious experience returns to the consciousness itself those biological requirements which are essential to legitimate it as an object of scientific study. Knowledge is generated by socio-experiential relationships that play a crucial role within knowledge representation. The mind takes therefore an active role in shaping the representation of the world: understanding does not just consist in a mere reproduction of the external world in our mind; instead, it is a continuous process of creative reconstruction of our perceptive dynamics. Emotion, creativity and rationality are essential elements of the human being, which activate and develop due to personal inclination as well as socio-cultural aspects. Both genetic and social components are decisive in cognitive dynamics, as they represent innate potentials that need to be recognized, understood and exploited.

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Authors: Stanislava Stoyanova

A review of several studies of teachers’ career motivation since Bulgarian Renaissance till nowadays is presented in this paper. 203 Bulgarian teachers in public schools were studied by means of a questionnaire created by Slavchov & Stoyanova (2007) measuring career motivational types, according to Moses’ typology (2003). The career motivational type of Authenticity seekers was the most preferred by the studied Bulgarian teachers, followed by Personal developers and Stability seekers. Career builders as a career motivational type was minor career motivator, the least preferred one by Bulgarian teachers. A lot of significant positive correlations existed between teachers’ career motivational types. Some social-demographic factors (such as gender, specialty, work experience, and age) differentiated teachers’ career motivators. The type of Autonomy seekers was more preferred career motivator by male teachers than by female teachers in correspondence to the traditional stereotypes for men. Longer teachers’ work experience and teachers’ advance in age were related to more frequency of Stability seekers, but less frequency of Novelty seekers career motivator. Preschool and elementary school teachers preferred more strongly Authenticity seekers as a career motivator than teachers in natural sciences and mathematics. Establishing major career motivators for teachers may be related to opportunities for improvement of performance and work satisfaction.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End page, Vol. 10, No. 2, PPC, 2016

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2016, PPC

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Authors: Yolanda Zografova

In the past year the international political and social situation changed significantly in Europe and its surrounding regions. The consequences are yet to unfold on a national and local level in terms of individual and societal notions and orientations within the complex events we are facing today. There is an increased number of displaced people due to dramatic events in their home countries, moving to Europe to seek refuge or better economic conditions. This has stimulated the emergence of attitudes, fears, representations within social groups and communities under various forms and often propagated and constructed by mass media, social networks and so on. Societies have gradually orientated towards accepting the diversity of ethnic groups, cultures and religions in the European countries. An increased number of citizens, however, including academics, cultural or other public figures oppose the coming of refugees and migrants and stand against politics of acceptance and recognition of incomers, both on a national and European level.

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Authors: Geert Franzenburg

Re-experiencing of traumatic memories becomes a social core-phenomenon concerning people of advanced age, and, thus, a core-challenge for coping-strategies. Therefore, adult educators and counselors are looking for an appropriate approach how to help their clients coping with such memories successfully. This study aims to demonstrate one possible approach based on religious coping and on the evalua¬tion of published memories of elder German people (Dierig, 2012; Jakobi & Link, 1997), who remember their child¬hood shortly after World War II. It also evaluates published studies about this issue concerning their contribution to educational and/or counseling purposes. One main aspect is the comparison between the deferring, collaborative, and self-directing style of religious coping (Pargament, 1997), compared with secular analogies. Another aspect concerns the question, whether religious people are primary intrinsic or extrinsic oriented. In order to find out, why people prefer a particular strategy, an elementary form of grounded theory is chosen, which facilitates particular key categories and terms. The study does neither intend any own empirical research, nor evaluating therapeutic issues, because it is done from a German educational and counseling point of view. Thus, it emphasizes the religious, psycho-logical, and cultural aspects of experiences and coping-strategies of people, who experienced War and post-war time as children in Germany, or of children expelled from Eastern Europe.

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Authors: Viktoriia Kalamazh

In this research the theoretical principles of psychological analysis of group project activity of students in the process of learning foreign language are defined on the basis of subject-activity, socio-psychological and cognitive paradigms. The approaches of different authors to the understanding of the concept of project and in particular group project activity are considered. The difficulties of the theoretical analysis of this specific notion are indicated due to the considerable variety of subjects, types and forms of the pedagogical activity, academic disciplines regarding which the researches are being carried out. Not disclosed aspects of organizing the group project activity of students are being determined, among them is a project group as an autonomous subject of joint activity for the realization students’ project activity while learning a foreign language; forming psychological readiness of teacher and student to use project method; the role of metacognitive aspect in the surrounding, where the project activity is being carried out; group functioning through the project work as a subject of group examination. It has been indicated that the analysis of project activity as an innovative technology must include its assessment as a condition of student’s developing as a subject of learning activity, his personal, socio-psychological, intellectual and professional self-perfection. Three levels of subjectivity in group project activity are being distinguished: teacher; each particular student; and student project group. Interaction between teacher and student is based on subject-subject relations. An organization of a project activity while learning a foreign language is considered as the one in which the student is moving in order to get the manager position and to master the basis of expert knowledge. Hereby, the main stress is on the group role as a subject of group examination, and also on metacognitive character of the surrounding. On the basis of conducted theoretical analysis, the new understanding of the notion of a group project activity is proposed. It is claimed, that the effectiveness of a group project activity is determined by the level of psychological readiness of students and teachers to implement it.

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Authors: Editorial Board

End, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2016, PPC

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page, Vol. 9, No. 2, 2015, PPC

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Authors: Yulia F. Lakhvich

The essential, if not the dominant part of a child’s life, takes place in the school environment as well as an adult’s life is spent at work. Therefore, a good relationship at school community and academic achievements are important for a child’s general psychological well-being. In addition, aspiration to estimate a child’s success on its progress at school is traditional. Perhaps, the most popular questions a child is asked by adults are the ones like, ”How are you doing at school?”, ”How is your study?”, "What are your favorite subjects?", etc.

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Authors: Lediona Braho, Blerta Bodinaku, Dan Pokorny

Using psychometric measures as communication tools instead of automatic and mechanic tools to provide an immediate profile of the client, constitutes a relevant challenge in the domain of psychometric testing. Interventions in the psychometric measurement process can increase the utility of measures as potential therapeutic tools. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the measure administration setting in reducing self-reported symptoms. The administration setting was manipulated in respect to two factors: a) researcher-subject communication during the measure administration process, and b) information of the subject on the one-week retest procedure. The sample (N=147) included four randomly assigned groups in 2x2 design. The group A was provided both interactive administration of the questionnaire and information about its repetition in the one-week-later retest; group B was provided interactive administration without information about the retest; group C conducted self-administration without the presence of the researcher, but information about the retest was provided; the control group D conducted self-administration only, with none of both interventions. The study has shown the effect of the researcher-subject communication; the CORE-OM values decreased significantly by the retest administration in groups A and B. The study results support the understanding of the psychometrical measurement as a dynamical inter-personal process. Moreover, they provide a relevant hint for clinicians who can optimize the use of tests as potentially therapeutic tools.

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Authors: Geert Franzenburg

Individual or collective coping with stereotypes - as actors or victims - belongs to human history, and shows different expressions, such as “Black and White” in Africa and America, “Jews”, “Sinti and Roma”, and “East and West” in Europe; also prejudices concerning generation, sex/gender, and professions belong to this context. This essay emphasizes, in an exemplary way, on a particular aspect of stereotyping: For Germans, 1945 was (also) the year of flight and expulsion from the East to the West as a kind of master-narrative; filled with stereotypes and myths, this narrative formed their collective memory and identity. Many expellees chose narrations as their strategy to cope with their traumatic experiences. Authors, such as Otfried Preussler, transferred their personal narration into literary forms. There also can be found official documents, such as decrees, which encoded the experiences into neutral information, but, nevertheless, remain traces of human tragedies. Also, modern interpretations of these events show emotional fillings and balance between close and distant style. The following short evaluation of published documents explains, how people cope with traumatic situations and experiences during a particular historical situation by using stereotypes; by evaluating different kinds of social influence on these stereotypes, the research demonstrates the complexity of stereotypes and the need of contextualization.