Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century

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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