Psychological Thought

81-82

Authors: Vasil Madolev

Psychological Thought should create conditions for stimulating development of psychological science. Parallel to this organizing role, the journal should co-operate for the propaganda of the achievements of psychology. Psychological Thought should reveal the defensive, integrating and controlling nature of Self; it should point out the process of transformation of human being into a cognitive personality; it should contest the prejudices and it should present the mechanisms for their surmounting; it should support the eclectic approach and every method for finding the truth about human life.

99-105

Authors: John H. Morgan

Geriatric Logotherapy is an analytical approach designed to address issues uniquely confronted in the counseling encounter with the elderly and is an adaptation of the psychotherapeutic school of thought known as Logotherapy. Logotherapy is a type of psychotherapeutic analysis and treatment which focuses on a will to meaning, founded upon the belief that striving to find meaning in one's life is the primary, most powerful motivating and driving force within the human experience. Sometimes called existential analysis, logotherapy grew out of the psychiatric research and personal experience of Viktor Frankl, M.D., based on his internment experience in Germany. Known as the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy (Freud and Adler being the founders of the First and Second Schools), logotherapy as a school of thought emphasizes existential reflection rather than psychoanalytic repression, focusing upon the concept and centrality of “meaning” in one’s life rather than Freud’s “pleasure principle” and Adler’s “will to power.” This article explores, then, the application of this school of psychotherapeutic theory and practice to the psychological care and treatment of the elderly, emphasizing the “existential efficacy of the good memory” as an analytical tool for emotional nurture with emphasis upon “immediacy” rather than “longevity” of care and treatment.

113-123

Authors: Marius Drugaş

The investigation of the unemployment consequences is a challenging theme in current psychological research. The recent controversy on the nature of general causality orientations (GCO’s) as personality traits stood as a reason for this study. Considering that prolonged unemployment is a significant life event, we investigated the stability in time (as a condition for a personality trait) of GCO’s for a sample of unemployed and we compared the results to those obtained from a sample of employed individuals. The first measure took place in April 2007, the second in September 2007 and the third in November 2011. The results indicated a higher level of control orientation for the unemployed in T3 and a significant positive growth of impersonal orientation for the same sample. Among the research limits were the poor data collection about the reasons of unemployment, family structure, job search behaviors and economic status.

141-149

Authors: Ira Das, Himani Anand

The research was conducted with the purpose to study the effect of prayer and meditation on galvanic skin response (GSR). It was hypothesized that there was a significant positive effect of prayer and meditation (Om chanting) on galvanic skin response (GSR). The sample consisted of 20 normal, healthy female participants through purposive sampling. The age group of the sample was 18 to 24 years (Mean= 18.7, SD= 1.55). Gender was female and minimum education was graduation. The daily practice time of prayer and meditation session was 30 minutes for one month. Pre- Post data were recorded before and after intervention of prayer and meditation session by using single group pre-post research design. Recordings of galvanic skin response (GSR) were made on a computerized polygraph (Model Physiopac, PP 4, Medicaid Systems, Chandigarh, India) test. The results revealed a significant increase in GSR values as an effect of prayer and meditation which suggested the psychophysiological relaxation. Practicing prayer and meditation increases the galvanic skin response and hence decreases the stress level of the individual.

166-185

Authors: Zornitza Ganeva

Ethnic stereotypes and prejudices as terms were examined and a historical review of their development (Duckitt, 1992) was made. The results from a survey of prejudices of young people of Bulgarian origin (n=942; 347 men and 595 women; average age 21.3 years) towards the in-group and the representatives of the main ethnic minorities: Turks, Roma and Jews, carried out in 5 time intervals: 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012, were presented. Through free associations, the relation between stereotypes and attitudes was studied in two social contexts: personal and community. The results showed that the assessment of the minority groups was more positive in the former than in the latter context. The persons studied perceived most negatively the representatives of the Romani ethnos, more weakly negatively the Turks, and the attitudes towards the Jews were positive.

195-212

Authors: Nikolay Ivantchev, Kremena Markova

An experiment on conformity was carried out. The participants were 95 youths. The scale “Conformity – Autonomy” from I. Karagiozov’s questionnaire for locus of control (1998) was also used. The results indicated the prevalence of youth conformity regarding institutions and media. The different types of conformity were related to each other. The subjects’ gender and the experimentators’ gender mediated the connections between the both types of conformity. The female youths conformed more with institutions than the male youths, but there were not any significant gender differences in their conform behavior regarding media (magazines). More male youths conformed for the magazines when the experimentator was a woman. More female youths conformed for the magazines when the experimentator was a man.

1

Authors: Stanislava Stoyanova

The history and the mission of Psychological Thought are presented. The scientific journal “Psychological Thought” started its existence as an idea of the colleagues at the Department of Psychology at South-West University “Neofit Rilski” in 2006. Seven print issues were published from 2006 to 2009 (2 issues per year). Each issue included average ten articles published in Bulgarian or in English.

22-32

Authors: Desislava Ivanova

This paper presents the specificity of the codependent behaviour, some models of therapeutical effect, their scientific validity and practical effectiveness. The focus is on the possibilities of motivational interviewing - one comparatively new therapy in the area of dependent behaviours with specific techniques, which are directed towards the act and the mobilization of the inner values and goals of the codependents, their resources for stimulating changes in behaviour and forming more effective coping strategies.

47-59

Authors: Gergana Stanoeva, Stanislava Stoyanova

This paper deal with an important issue related to the human attitudes and needs in interpersonal and professional aspects. The theoretical part deals with several psychological components of the self-esteem and esteem of the others – acceptance of the others, feeling of being accepted, need for approval. Some gender differences in manifestations of acceptance and feeling of being accepted at the workplace are discussed. This article presents some empirical data for the degree of acceptance of others, feeling of being accepted, and the strive for being accepted among the representatives of helping, pedagogical, administrative and economic occupations, as well as non-qualified workers. The goals of the study were to reveal the interdependency between these constructs and to be found some significant differences between the representatives of the four groups of occupations. The methods of the first study were W. Fey’s scales “Acceptance of others”, and “How do I feel accepted by others”. The method of the second study was Crown and Marlowe Scale for Social Desirability. The results indicated some significant differences in acceptance of others and feeling of being accepted between the non-qualified workers and the representatives of helping, administrative and economic occupations. There were not any significant difference in strive for being accepted between the four occupational groups.

69-74

Authors: Teodor Gergov, Ivanka Asenova

Ageism is one of the global problems of contemporary world. This article is an attempt to look at it from a point of view of mentality. A few of the main manifestations of ageism including prejudice and openly demonstrated discrimination against seniors are discussed. On the basis of a survey, some conclusions are made about the negative consequences from ageism for the mentality of older people. The survey was conducted among 27 people between the ages of 20 - 35 and 36 people between the ages of 65 - 80 (mean age of 73.5 years).

78-80

Authors: Stanislava Stoyanova

The books by M. Alvesson and J. Salmons deal with some different kinds of methodologies: qualitative (case study, grounded theory, phenomenology, and multiple qualitative methodologies), quantitative (experimental and quasi-experimental), and mixed methods. The trends in and the future of interview research, qualitative and mixed research methods are discussed.