41

Capability

Capability, an action method mastered by an individual and ensured by the totality of knowledge and skills acquiredby the latter. C. is developed through exercise, making it possible to perform actions not only in habitual conditions, but also in changed environment.

Catalepsy

Catalepsy, a sleep-like condition characterised by a lack of response to external and internal stimuli, a "waxy flexibility", in which the limbs hold any position they are placed in. C. may occur in hypnotic slep (see Hypnosis), and also in some 42 mental diseases, such as schizophrenia and hysteria.

Categorial Analysis (in psychology)

Categorial Analysis (in psychology), a method of studying the development of psychological cognition as an activity (Mikhail Yaroshevsky), elements of which are concrete scientific categories, which reproduce different aspects of psychological reality (image, action, motive, etc.). Two levels are distinguished in psychological cognition; empirico-theoretical and categorial. The first level is represented in the consciousness of scientists who deal with facts, hypotheses, conceptions, etc. As for the categorial apparatus which directs this type of consciousness, its role can be revealed only through a special C.A. as a specific variety of historico-theoretical research. The use of C.A. permitted, specifically, to understand the object-logical factors of transforming psychology into an independent science, distinguished from philosophy and physiology (this was determined by the appearance of its own scientific-categorial structure). A C.A. of different scientific schools reveals the dependence of their rise and fall, apart from other factors, on the logic of development of psychological knowledge (e.g. the appearance of behaviourism was linked with the introduction into the category of psychological action of such indications as objective observation in the system of an organism’s connection with the environment, and the disintegration i of this school—with the interpretation of the category of a psychological image in the spirit, of former introspectionism). As a form of self-cognition of science, C.A. serves to study the regularities of its development with the aim of effective organisation of new research.

Categorial System of Psychology

Categorial System of Psychology, a general, deep-going, and historically developing cognitive structure which reflects both the psychic reality as a whole and its specific inherent characteristics. C.S. of P. determines the construction of concrete theories and empiric knowledge. A special categorial analysis is required to bring to light the components of C.S. of P., the level of their development and forms of interconnection. C.S. of P. is formed under the impact of social practice, including the practice of scientific research.

Categorisation

Categorisation, a psychic process of attributing a single object, event, emotional experience to a certain class, which may be represented in the form of verbal and non-verbal meanings, symbols, sensory and perceptual standards, social stereotypes, behavioural stereotypes, etc. The C. process is included directly in the processes of perception, thinking, imagination, the object -of which is perceived and thought of not as a single, immediate entity, but as a representative of some generalised class, and the peculiarities and characteristic properties of this class of phenomena being transferred to this object. The content of the notion of C. in cognitive psychology corresponds to the postulate on the mediation of mental processes by socially evolved 43 standards, or generalisations, that bear in themselves the sum total of social experience—the postulate adopted in the framework of the theory of activity. The vehicles of this experience are primarily the semantic structures of a natural language (verbal meanings); symbols, expressive movements, rituals, and also formulas, schemes, drawings, etc. may be a form of fixation of experience. In individual experience, C. is a form of its classification by way of developing and changing categories and standards of social consciousness. The differential-psychological aspects of C. characterise the specifics of the subject’s reflection of the world. Being a means of cognising the world, categorial structures of individual consciousness as such may not be realised by the subject. C. forms possess a complex hierarchical organisation, whose structure and functioning are studied by genetic and general psychology.

Catharsis

Catharsis, initially: the emotional shock, a state of inner purification experienced by a viewer of ancient tragedy as a result of a special feeling of concern for the fate of the hero, which, as a rule, concluded in his death. In psychoanalysis, a special therapeutic procedure, consisting in the release of tension, “reaction” to an affect, which had been repressed into the subconscious and is the cause of a neurotic conflict.

Causal Scheme

Causal Scheme, a notion used in social psychology to indicate: (a) the principles for analysing causality in the sphere of social perception (see Social Perception); (b) stable perceptions of specific causal chains. This notion became widespread with the development of the study of causal attribution (see Attribution, Causal). According to George Kelly’s social psychology theory (1972), one of the most widespread in the West, the three basic principles of C.S. are: (1) the discounting principle—perception of the role of a given cause in the determination of events as the lesser in view of the presence of other causes, which potentially facilitate its appearance; (2) the augmentation principle—perception of the role of a given cause in the determination of events as the greater as a result of the presence of factors obstructing its appearance; (3) the principle of attributional errors—a systematic deviation of the causal explana- i tion of people’s behaviour from the ^: rules of formal logic. The main trend ^! in these errors is an overestimation of the subjective causes of behaviour and an underestimation of its objective causes. The general principles of C.S. are seen as the most general and stable i regularities of the functioning of the more concrete schemes of causality. The more particular C.S’s, which represent a stable perception of a concrete causality of phenomena, are distinguished by degree of complexity, generalisation and consistency of inclusion in the analysis. The main factors determining.the level of C.S. used in the analysis of causality on the level of "everyday psychology" is the degree of complexity of the perceived | objects and their correspondence to an individual’s expectations.

43

Centration

Centration, an effect revealed by the German psychologists Wolfgang Kohler and Max Wertheimer in the study of visual illusions whereby the elements on which the subject’s gaze is fixed appear more salient than others. Gestalt psychology explained this effect, caused by several objective factors, by the presence of “bad” and “good” structures in perception. In the concept of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, C. is a process involving subjective expansion of the "attention focus" zone and distortion and compression of the peripheral perceptual field; hence C. causes the object to deform and leads to a "systematic error" in operating and manipulating its image. To overcome that error, the subject must develop decentration skills. Piaget substantiated the qualitative distinction of C. forms in perception and in intellect, and also singled out other phenomena, e.g. egocentrism, religious and political stereotypes of public consciousness, etc. The C. effect was revealed in studies on interpersonal perception by the US psychologist Solomon Asch, who established that when one individual creates an integral idea about the personality of another, some of the latter’s perceived qualities come out as central ones, around which other characteristics and qualities would group.

Character

Character, a set of stable personality traits which are established and manifest themselves in activity and communication (1), conditioning behaviour typical of the given personality. Knowledge of an individual’s C. allows to foresee with considerable probability his behaviour and thus adjust anticipated actions. C. is conditioned by the individual’s social being and social experience, which engender typical traits of C. determined by typical circumstances in specific historical conditions. C.’s individual uniqueness, engendered by diverse and unique situations involving the subject’s socialisation, education, and nature- dependent development (see inclinations, temperament, higher nervous activity), shows in unity with its socially typical factors. Among numerous individual traits, some are main and others secondary. The latter may both match and sharply contrast with the main traits to form either integral or contradictory C’s. Manifesting itself in activity, C. forms therein and reveals its dependence both on activity as such and on its personalised meaning for the inividual, on the one hand, and on the actual, objectively assessed success of that activity and on the individual’s subjective attitude towards his own successes and failures (see Level of Aspirations), on the other. C. manifests itself within a system of man-environment relations: in the individual’s attitude to other people reflected either in sociable or reserved disposition (see Extroversion- Introversion), truthfulness or mendacity, tact or rudeness, etc.; to one’s work (responsibility or carelessness, diligence or laziness, etc.); to oneself (modesty or self-love, self-criticism or self-assurance, pride or humility); and to property (generosity or greed, frugality or wastefulness, accuracy or 44 slovenliness). C. is dependent on one’s world outlook, convictions and moral principles, through which the individual displays his social essence. For instance, honesty, a principled approach, and humaneness are intrinsically linked with communist convictions, while hypocrisy, lack of principles, and callousness are incompatible with them. And yet, personal traits themselves do not unambiguously determine the individual’s social stance, for cheerfulness and worry may typify people with diametrically opposite convictions. Relatively stable individual traits do not exclude the possibility of a highly flexible C. Social education and the individual’s involvement in collectives have decisive significance in forming C. (see Characterology; Accentuation of Character).

Characterology

Characterology, (1) in a broad sense, study of characters; (2) a trend in 20th-century German psychology which interprets human individuality as a psycho-somatic unity characterised by primacy to the environment in which it exists and determined behaviourally by its primordially innate properties. Ludwig Klages, chief advocate of C., believed that the study of character should rely on observation, description and systematic interpretation of expressive individual movements, rather than conscious subjective states, e.g. handwriting, gestures, and so on. This empirico-psychological doctrine was based on the metaphysical theory that the "spirit is the psyche’s opponent", a concept that goes back to Friedrich Nietzsche’s views, according to which a contradiction between the individual’s spontaneous life embodied in his unique integral personality and impersonal universal spirit that destroys his uniqueness, are inherent in man. C. deals mainly with: (1) establishing the basic types of character; (2) “identifying” the type of character by its manifestations in every specific case so as to allow for an integrally individual-psychological understanding and forecast of human behaviour in definite situations. The history of psychology knows of two basic approaches to the problem of character. In line with the first approach, a “static” character is regarded to comprise an invariable set (structure) of basic traits irrespctive of how that character was found to have formed and developed. This view was finalised by the German psychopathologist Ernst Kretschmer, who examined character in connection with body structure, as man’s mental constitution corresponding to his somatic constitution, explaining character in the final account by innate, primarily endocrine factors. In the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and his students (Carl Jung, Alfred Adler, and others), the forming of individual traits and types of character is believed to result from man’s intense work designed to solve conflicting situations. From this viewpoint, character is the “crystallisation” of human struggle for implementing man’s largely unconscious life project. With regard to this interpretation, C. shares the methodological vices of Freudianism. Soviet psychology recognises that character 45 is above all conditioned by sociohistorical factors and by education. Some Soviet researchers accentuate the “natural” foundation of character by linking with it primarily the formaldynamic features in human behaviour (see Temperament), whereas others note its role in forming general personality “orientation” and its relation to various spheres of social being.

Chiromancy

Chiromancy, a variety of pseudoscientific fortune-telling by the configuration of lines, folds and bumps on a person’s palms. C. originated in ancient times (dating back to Pythagoras, Galen, Ibn Sina et al.); it is closely associated with astrology and other occult ideas, and is still practiced in some countries. The underlying principle of C., or palmistry, is that man’s future is predetermined, and hence his psychology and future life are predestined by the constitutional features imprinted in his palm. Under the currently increased public interest for mysticism in capitalist countries, the book market there is literally piled with all kinds of fortune-telling manuals, including those dealing with C.

Choleric Person

Choleric Person, a person with one of the four basic types of temperament characterised by a high level of psychic activity, vigorous actions, and dashingly forceful, fast, and impetuous movements. C.P.’s tend to abruptly change their mood, are hottempered, impatient, subject to emotional derangements, and sometimes aggressive (see Behaviour, Aggressive). The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov assigned C.P’s to the highly unbalanced type of personality. In the absence of proper education, insufficient emotional balance may lead to inability to control one’s emotions in difficult situations.

Climate, Socio-Psychological

Climate, Socio-Psychological, the qualitative aspect of interpersonal relations which is manifested as the sum total of psychological conditions that facilitate or obstruct productive joint activities and the all-round development of the individual in a group. Key indicators of a favourable C.,S.P. are: trust and highly demanding attitudes of a group’s members towards each other; benevolent and businesslike criticism; free expression of one’s opinion in the discussion of questions that concern the whole collective; no pressure on the part of the leaders on their subordinates and the acknowledgement of the leaders’ right to make important decisions concerning the group; the members’ adequate information about the collective’s goals and their solution; satisfaction with affiliation to the collective; high level of emotional involvement and mutual assistance in situations causing frustration in any member of the collective; each member’s sense of responsibility for the state of affairs in the group. Thus, the character of C.,S.P. depends as a whole on the level of group development. It has been established that there exists a positive connection between the state of the C.,S.P. of a well-developed collective and the efficacy of its members’ joint activity. 46 The optimal supervision of its activity and C.,S.P. in any (including work) collective requires special knowledge and skill of its leading members. Special measures are used: scientifically substantiated selection, training and periodical attestation of leading personnel; recruitment of staff of primary collectives bearing in mind their psychological compatibility; use of socio-psychological methods which help cultivate effective mutual understanding and interaction in the members of a collective (see Socio-Psychological Training; Game, Business). C..S.P. depends on the style of leadership. In his endeavour to optimise C.,S.P. an executive should rely on the most active, conscious and respected members of a collective. The synonyms of the notion C.,S.P. are a moralpsychological climate, psychological climate, and psychological atmosphere in a collective.

Cluster Analysis

Cluster Analysis, a mathematical procedure of a multivariate analysis which makes it possible, on the basis of numerous indices characterising a series of objects (for example, subjects under study), to group them in classes (clusters) in such a way that the objects comprising one class would be more homogeneous, approximating each other, as compared to objects comprising other classes. The distance between objects is calculated on the basis of numerical parameters, which may be expressed in Euclidean metrics (the most widely used), or in other metrics. The method of C.A. is widely used in psycholinguistics.

Cognitive Balance, Theories of

Cognitive Balance, Theories of, a class of theories elaborated in the framework of the cognitive orientation of Western social psychology in the 1950s (see Cognitive Psychology) and designed to explain the correlation of the logical and the illogical in a person’s behaviour. The main idea of all C.B.,T. consists in that man’s cognitive structure cannot be unbalanced, disharmonious; if this occurs, there immediately appears a tendency to change this condition and to re-establish an internal balance of the cognitive system. This idea is represented in different ways in diverse C.B. theories. Fritz Heider’s structural balance theory, based on the idea of balance and the idea of attribution (see Attribution, Causal), examines the condition of a person’s balanced cognitive structure in a situation of perception of another person and the construction of two types of relations: to this person and to an object that is common for the two partners in communication (1). Theodore Newcomb’s theory of communicative acts propounds the idea that development of communication (2) between partners, in the course of which the position of one of them changes thereby re-establishing balance, is a means of overcoming the discomfort engendered by lack of correspondence between a person’s attitude towards another person and his attitude to a common object. The basic thesis of Charles Osgood’s and Percy Tannenbaum’s congruence theory consists in that for the achievement of congruence of cognitive structure a perceiving person simultaneously changes his 47 attitude to the other person and to the object of common attitude. Thus, if the subject’s attitude to the other person is positive, but negative with respect to the object they are assessing and in case of a positive attitude of the second subject to the object, the first subject, minimising the “negativity” of his attitude to this object, also minimises the “positivity” of his attitude to the second subject. Here the correspondence (congruence) is reestablished by the simultaneous change of these two types of relations, and, in certain cases by changing the attitude’s valency. C.B.,T. suffer from a number of methodological errors, which are linked with the general methodological limitations of the cognitive orientation in social psychology. A loose definition of basic terms (“congruence”, “incongruence”), the limited possibilities of the models of behaviour interpretation, built on the absolutisation of the "need for correspondence" and excluding the motivation of a search for novelty, as well as failure to take into consideration the real contradictions of the social environment as a source of "cognitive dissonance" substantially lessen the value of C.B.,T. However, the rich empirical material accumulated in them can be considered in the framework of another philosophical and methodological approach, which in fact is being implemented in a number of investigations by Soviet psychologists.

Cognitive Complexity

Cognitive Complexity, the psychological characterisation of man’s cognitive sphere. C.C. reflects the degree of categorial differentiation of an individual’s consciousness, which facilitates the selective sorting out of impressions of reality, which mediate his activity (see Categorisation). C.C. is determined by the quantity of bases for classification, which are used consciously by the subject in differentiating the objects of a certain semantic sphere. A person’s consciousness is not homogeneous and in different semantic spheres may be characterised by a different C.C. (for instance, a high C.C. in the sphere of sport and a low one in the sphere of interpersonal perception). An operational criteriom for determining C.C. may be the dimension (number of independent factors) of subjective semantic space.

Cognitive Dissonance, Theory of

Cognitive Dissonance, Theory of, a concept of Western social psychology advanced by the US psychologist Leon Festinger (1957) which explains the influence of man’s behaviour on the system of congitive elements (beliefs, opinions, values, intentions, etc.). This theory’s point of departure is as follows: dissonance is a negative motivating condition appearing in situations when the subject is simultaneously in possession of two psychologically counterposed “truths” (opinions, notions) concerning an object. The condition of dissonance is subjectively experienced as a feeling of discomfort which the subject endeavours to get rid of either by changing one of dissonant truths or by introducing a new one. Later Festinger described dissonance as the result of insufficient 48 justiftcation of choice. Seeking to enhance the justification of a deed, a person either changes his behaviour or changes his attitude towards the objects with which the deed is associated, or minimises the deed’s significance for himself and others. In the 1970s, "dissonant effects" were reconsidered by a number of investigators in terms of information and represented as a particular case in the functioning of causal schemes (see Attribution, Causal). The main shortcoming of C.D.,T. that is inherent in the entire cognitive orientation is the concentration of research on the subject, his consciousness, and the underestimation of object-oriented activity in which the subject is engaged and which mediates his relationships with surrounding reality (see Cognitive Psychology).

Cognitive Map

Cognitive Map, an image of the familiar spatial environment. C.M’s are created and modified as a result of a subject’s active interaction with the world around him. C.M’s of different degree of similarity, “scale” and organisation may be constructed (for instance, a view-map or a road-map, depending on the completeness of representation of spatial relations and the presence of a definite point of departure). Various methods are employed in the study of C.M’s—from simple sketches to multivariate scaling, making it possible to restore the structure of an image using the results of metric or ordinal evaluation of distances between points on a map. These studies show a tendency to overestimate familiar distances and underestimate unfamiliar ones, straighten slight curves, and approximate the intersections to the perpendiculars. Distortions may also result if the map points belong to different taxonomic units. Specifically, the distance between cities in one country seems less than the distance between cities in different countries, even when they are actually equal.

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology, a leading orientation in modern Western psychology. C.P. appeared in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a reaction to the denial of the role of internal organisation in psychological processes characteristic of the behaviourism holding sway in the USA. Initially, C.P. was designed primarily to study transformations in sensory information from the moment when a stimulus reaches the receptor surface to the moment of response (Donald Broadbent, Saul Sternberg). Researchers proceeded from the similarity between the processing of information by man and by computer. Singled out were numerous structural composites (blocks) of cognitive and executive processes, including short- and long-term memory (John Atkinson). This line of research, coming up against serious difficulties in connection with the growing number of structural models of particular psychic processes, led to an understanding of C.P. as an orientation designed to prove the decisive role of knowledge in a subject’s behaviour (Ulric Neisser). Within this broader approach, C.P. comprises all trends which criticise behaviourism and psychoanalysis from intellectualistic and mentalistic 49 positions (Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner). The organisation of knowledge in the subject’s memory, including the correlation of verbal and image components in the processes of memorising and thinking (Gordon Bower, Roger Shepard) becomes the central question. Cognitive theories of emotions (Stanley Schachter), individual differences (Hans Eysenck) and personality (George Kelly) are also being intensively evolved. As an attempt at overcoming the crisis of behaviourism, Gestalt psychology and other C.P. trends failed to justify the hopes placed on it, for its representatives were unable to unite separate lines of research on a single conceptual basis. From the positions of Soviet psychology, an analysis of the formation and actual functioning of knowledge as a mental reflection of reality essentially presupposes a study of the subject’s practical and theoretical activity, including its highest socialised forms.

Cognitive Style

Cognitive Style, (1) relatively stable individual peculiarities of a subject’s cognitive processes, which find expression in their use of cognitive strategies; (2) the sum total of individual cognitive strategies or types of control established by a choice of specially selected tests. Other types of C.S., such as, cognitive complexity, can also serve as an indicator of individual differences in cognitive activity. By stressing exclusively the formal aspects of individual differences in cognitive activity, some Western theories ignore the content of an individual’s motives, value orientations, which in fact engender and determine this or that C.S. (see Cognitive Psychology).

Collective

Collective, a group most characteristic of the system of socialist social relationships, with a high level of development, where interpersonal relations are mediated by a socially valuable and personally significant content of joint activities (see Level of Group Development). The elaboration of the socio-psychological problems of C., based on the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, the works of Nadezhda Krupskaya, Anton Makarenko and Vassili Sukhomlinsky was begun in the 1960s (Konstantin Platonov, Jevgeny Kuzmin, Lev Umansky, Yekaterina Shorokhova, and others). The formation of a C. is linked with the inclusion of its members in joint socially important activity, which is organised and guided in a special way, whose goals are subordinated to the objectives of socialist society, and whose values are the values of the socialist way of life. C. creates conditions for the all-round development of personality, whose education is implemented in C. and through C. The specific socio-psychological characteristics of a C. were experimentally investigated on the basis of the theory of work-mediated interpersonal relationships. These are: group cohesion as a value-orientational unity, collectivist self-determination, collectivisl identification (see Identification, Collectivist), socially valuable character of the motivation of interpersonal choices (see Interpersonal 50 Choices, Motivation of), a high referentiality of a C. for its members, objectivity in charging and accepting responsibility for the results of joint activity (see Attribution, Causal). These investigations show that the regularities of interpersonal relations in small groups (see Group, Small) discovered by the group dynamics trend and other trends of Western social psychology are not applicable to C. The socio-psychological regularities of a C. differ in quality from the regularities operating in group with a low level of development. Thus, the degree of effective emotional group identification (see Identification, Collectivist) in a diffuse group (see Group, Diffuse) is dependent in inverse proportion on its size, and in a C. the salience of this phenomenon does not decrease with the increase of a C. In groups with a low level of development an inverse dependency has been discovered between efficiency of a group and the intensity of positive emotional ties within it, while in a C. it is a direct dependency. In incidental social aggregation the likelihood of help being rendered to a victim is minimised with an increase in the number of eyewitnesses (Bibb Latane), while in a C. there is no such effect. The group processes are hierarchicised in a C. and form a multilevel ( stratometric) structure, the core of which is joint activities, determined by socially important goals. The first level (stratum) of a C.’s structure is formed by its members’ attitudes to the content and values of collective activities, which ensure its cohesion as a valueorientational entity. The second level is interpersonal relations mediated by joint activities (collectivist self- determination, collectivist indentification, etc.). The third level is interpersonal relations mediated by value orientations that are not linked with joint activities. The regularities operating at the third level of a C.’s structure do not manifest themselves on the second, and vice versa, and hence the assessments pertaining, for example, to facts experimentally obtained within the framework of the third level, cannot be transferred to the second level or to a C. as a whole. This drives the psychologist who is studying a C.’s level of development to parameters which bring to light its essential, and not incidental (superficial) qualities (see Collective Formation).

Collective Formation

Collective Formation, the process of turning of a group into a collective; a specific type of group formation. The key factor in C.F. is the group members’ active participation in socially significant joint activities, on the basis of which specific interpersonal relations are formed in the group. C.F. presupposes group cohesion on the basis of goals of socially significant activity accepted by individuals, the values, norms (see Group Norms), attitudes, etc. linked with it, and also the formation of value-orientational unity and other collectivist relations.

Collective Representations

“Collective Representations", a term suggested by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim to designate the components of a system of knowledge, 51 opinions and behavioural norms originated in social experience. The term was used by Durkheim and his followers to explain the social origin of human psyche, which, however, acquired with them a dual interpretation: the social in the structure of consciousness was counterposed to the individual.

Collective, Scientific (in social psychology)

Collective, Scientific (in social psychology), a cohesive social unit engaged in joint scientific research in accordance with a common programme. A C.,S. has a complex internal rolefunctional structure, which includes scientific, scientific-organisational and scientific-administrative roles. The indicators of a C.,S. include: existence of a common research programme; group cohesion and internal motivation of the behaviour of its members who fulfil different roles in research work; presence of an authoritative leader, capable of organising joint activities to implement a given programme. Research of the problems of C.,S. in Soviet social psychology is carried out on the basis of the programmerole theory of a scientific collective (see also Collective).

Collectivist Self-determination

Collectivist Self-determination, the selective attitude of individuals to the influence of a particular social unit under which they accept some of its influences and reject others, depending on the mediating factors: ideals, activity goals, accepted social values, norms, etc. (see Group Norms). C.S. is an alternative to both conforming (see Conformity), and non- conforming or negativist behaviour (see Negativism). In a developed collective, C.S. operates as an indicator of the formation of a collective (see Level of Group Development). An experimental investigation of C.S. presupposes: (1) searching for persons who express agreement with the group’s opinion; (2) applying to them alleged group pressure, which runs counter to the group’s actual opinion, i.e. does not correspond to the norms and values it adheres to. This makes it possible to single out conforming individuals and individuals to whom C.S. is intrinsic.

Common Emotional Experience

Common Emotional Experience, “tuning" one’s own emotional state to that of another person or social group, when the subject’s individual consciousness reflects the attitude of another person or social group to the events happening to him or her. There are two classes of C.E.E.: (1) that which arises from an involuntary emotional contagion and overwhelms the subject in case of direct, generally accidental contact with people experiencing certain emotions (for instance, fear or joy that momentarily spreads among an associated group of people). Such C.E.E. is sometimes called direct responsive emotions (see Empathy); (2) that which represents in the subject’s individual consciousness a corresponding level of interpersonal relations, mediated by joint activities, common goals, norms (see Group Norms) and values of a given social group (for example, the feeling of joy about the success of a member of the 52 collective, and the feeling of compassion about his failure). C.E.E. is based on emotional identification, in which the individual puts himself "in another person’s shoes" in the process of joint activities (see Identification, Collectivist). C.E.E. is particularly salient in the individual’s humane attitude towards other people (see Humaneness).

Common Sense

Common Sense, the totality of generally accepted and frequently unrealised methods used to explain and appraise observed phenomena of the outside and inner world. C.S. summarises the meaningful fragments of historically accessible experience needed by every person in daily life. The notions relevant to personal interactions play a considerable role in C.S., as does information on nature and social relations. In the natural language expressing the content of C.S., there are thousands of words to describe personality traits, man’s psychic states, motives, etc. It is natural for modern psychology to display a legitimate interest in C.S., its content and mechanisms, particularly in such fields of socio-psychological research as the attribution theory (see Attribution, Causal), the implicit theory of personality, the study of social stereotypes, etc. The science of psychology uses the positive elements of experience common to all humanity, and at the same time critically analyses ordinary, spontaneous notions about human personality and behaviour.

Communication (1)

Communication (1), a complex process of establishing and developing contacts between people engendered by the need for joint activities and involving exchange of information, elaboration of a single strategy of interaction, and perception and understanding of another person. Correspondingly, three aspects of C. are distinguished, namely, communicative, interactive, and perceptive. Soviet psychologists proceed from the principle that C. and activity form an inseparable unity, whereas Western socio-psychological theories usually describe some single aspect of C. and reduce contacts between people either to exchange of information, or to interaction, or to the process of interpersonal perception (see Perception, Interpersonal), the relationship of these aspects with joint activities is virtually ignored. Research into the communicative aspect of C. involves revealing the specifics of information exchange processes between people as active subjects, i.e. taking account of relations between the partners, specifically their attitudes, goals and intentions, this leading not merely to a “flow” of information, but also to specification and enhancement of the knowledge, data, and opinions that people exchange. Means of the communicative process are various systems of signs, primarily speech, and also the optico-kinetic system of signs (gestures, mimicry, pantomimicry), para- and extralinguistic systems ( intonation, non-verbal insertions, e.g. pauses), a system for organising the space and time of communication and, finally, a system of "eye contact". An important feature of the communicative process is the intention of its 53 participants to influence each other’s behaviour so as to ensure one’s own ideal representation in another’s mind (personalisation), the prerequisite for this being not simply the use of one language, but similar understanding of the communicative situation. The interactive aspect of C. involves elaborating a common interaction strategy. Several types of interaction between people, primarily cooperation and competition, are distinguished. Yet, their abstract definition in simple terms “agreement” or “conflict” results in a schematic description of this process, as is typical of Western social psychology. And though certain results have been achieved along this way of reasoning, which is exemplified by studies of predicting partner’s behavioural strategies where elements of the mathematical theory of games were used, the formal nature of the description of the strategies studied, and the fact that it involves mainly analysis of the interaction of dyads, diminishes external validity of the obtained data. One feature of Marxist social psychology is attention to the content of various types of interaction due to its interpretation as a definite method of combining individual efforts in concrete forms of joint activities. The perceptual aspect of C. involves a process wherein an image of another person is formed; this is achieved by “deciphering” psychological properties of a person encoded in his physical characteristics and his details of behaviour. The main mechanisms whereby one gets to know another person are identification (judging by analogy) and reflexion (understanding how other people perceive the subject of cognition). In the course of interpersonal perception and cognition, a number of "effects" arise, namely, those of primacy-recency (novelty), and halo. Stereotyping and causal attributions (see Attribution, Causal) also play an important role. Knowledge of these mechanisms allows one to reveal the psychological content of the process of mutual understanding achieved during C. The correlation of C. with a definite kind of relationship between people also shows in the emotional regulation of the perceptive process, specifically in the phenomenon of attraction. Examination of the three aspects of C. in unity is an important condition for optimising people’s joint activities and relations. To elaborate means of correcting and optimising C., and to develop communicative abilities and skills, which are of particular importance for those who are professionally involved in the process of C., e.g. executives, teachers, physicians, etc., are important tasks of social psychology. Among various forms of teaching the art of C., sociopsychological training, i.e. the mastering of various forms of C. with the aid of special courses (programmes), plays a significant role.

Communication (2)

Communication (2), the semantic aspect of social interaction. Inasmuch as any individual action takes place in direct or indirect relations with other people, it includes (along with the physical) a communicative aspect. Actions deliberately designed for their 54 semantic perception by other people are sometimes called communicative actions. Singled out are a C. process and the acts comprising it. The main functions kf the C. process consist in achieving social unity while preserving the individuality of each of its elements. Realised in separate C. acts are regulatory, informative, emotive and phatic (associated with the establishment of contacts) functions, the first being genetically and structurally the initial one. In the correlation of these functions nominally distinguished are messages: inducing (belief, suggestion, order, request); informative (transfer of real or fictitious information); expressive (inducement of emotional experience); phatic ( establishment and maintenance of contact). Moreover, communicative processes and acts may also be qualified on the basis of other factors. Thus, according to the type of relations between participants distinguished are: interpersonal, public, and mass C.; according to C. means: language (written and oral), paralinguistic (gesture, mimicry, melody), objectified C. (products of. industry, fine art, etc.). Study of C. reveals the role of communicative barriers—psychological obstacles on the way of spreading and receiving information that arise for various reasons (bias, social, political, moral, professional and other differences between the source of information and its recipient, etc.).

Communication (2), Animal

Communication (2), Animal, the transmission of information from one animal to another ("animal language"). C.,A. (as distinct from human) is a closed innate system of signals (sounds, expressive postures, body movements, smells), emitted by one animal and adequately interpreted by another. By its origin and action mechanism (zoopragmatics) methods of C., A. are distinguished according to channels of information transmission (optical, chemical, acoustic, tactile, and others) and degree of ritualisation. The ritualised behavioural components—are genetically fixed signals typical of a species that are executed with exaggerated demonstrativeness (sometimes in the form of a “dialogue”), in a definite sequence in the form of “rituals” (“ceremonies”) with a clearcut informative content. The informative content of communicative actions (zoosemantics) may be related to the sphere of identification (identification of an animal’s belonging .to a definite species, community, sex, identification of an individual among one’s kin, etc.), behavioural motivation (information on the physiological condition of an animal, for instance, hunger, sexual excitation, etc.), relations with the environment (warning of danger or signalling the finding of food, a place for rest, etc.).

Comparative Psychology

Comparative Psychology, a branch of psychology that studies problems relating to anthropogenesis, the development of man’s consciousness and the study of the general and specific elements of human and animal psychological activity (problem of the social and the biological in human behaviour). Materialist C.P. developed against 55 the background of struggle both against idealist views (subjectivism, psychophysical parallelism) and vulgar- materialist attempts to biologise human behaviour from the standpoint of commonplace evolutionism. C.P. analyses data of animal psychology ( particularly studies of monkeys) and human psychology to reveal similar psychological elements and common biological facts conditioning animal and human behaviour, their common origin and qualities inherited by man from his animal ancestors. C.P. also studies the fundamental qualitative distinctions of man’s behaviour and psyche, which developed under the influence of socio-historical factors. In this connection, it gives particular attention to premises that gave rise to work activity, human society and articulate speech. The results of C.P. are important for solving problems of psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and other branches of knowledge. A comparative-ontogenetic study of psyche is essential for learning the regularities of child’s mental development. The results of C.P. are also used in medicine (neuropathology, psychiatry, and simulation of pathological conditions on animals).

Comparison

Comparison, a logical operation in thinking. Tasks to compare objects, images or notions are widely used in the psychological studies of the development and impairment of thinking. These studies analyse the mechanisms of comparison used, the process of transition from one frame of reference to another.

Compensation of Mental Functions

Compensation of Mental Functions, a compensation of underdeveloped or impaired psychic functions by the use of safe functions or the reconstruction of partially impaired ones. C. of M.F. makes it possible to involve in its realisation new nerve structures, which previously had not participated in accomplishing the given functions. These structures are united functionally on the basis of fulfilling a common task. According to Pyotr Anokhin’s concept, the decisive moment in the creation of a new functional system with C. of M.F. is the evaluation of the results of an organism’s (animal’s or man’s) attempts to remove a defect, which is accomplished thanks to "reverse afferentation". There exist two types of C. of M.F.: intra-systemic, which is accomplished by involving the safe nerve elements of affected structures, and inter-systemic, which is associated with the reconstruction of the functional system and the linking up of new nerve elements from other nerve structures. Both types of C. of M.F. are observed in man. They are very important in cases of overcoming innate or early defects of development. Thus C. of M.F. of the visual analyser in a child that is born blind occurs primarily through the development of the sense of touch (i.e. due to the complex activity of the motor and dermo-kinesthetic analysers), which requires a special training.

Complex

Complex, a combination of separate psychic processes into a whole that differs from a sum of its elements (see Systems Principle). In this sense 56 the term "C." has been used by many psychologists (see Cultural-Historical Theory). A specific interpretation of C. is given in psychoanalysis, where C. is seen as a group of psychic processes united by a single affect, formed on the basis of deeply-rooted phylogenetic structures (see Phylogenesis). In psychoanalysis, C. is an unconscious formation, determining the structure and direction of consciousness; one of the tasks of psychotherapy is seen in bringing C. to the consciousness of the patient (see Inferiority Complex; Oedipus Complex).

Complex Approach to Man

Complex Approach to Man, a systematic study of the integral individual- psychological formation of man at all stages of his life. According to C.A. to M. principles formulated by Ananyev, the individual development of man takes place on three planes: ontopsychological evolution of psychophysiological functions (characterisation of man as an individual); formation of the activity and history of man’s development as a subject of labour ( characterisation of man as a subject of activity); man’s biography (characterisation of man as a personality). Consolidation of the characteristics of an individual, personality and subject of activity produces the psychological uniqueness of man, his individuality. In this connection man’s development is examined primarily from the viewpoint of his formation as an individual whole, as the end result of such interaction of “natural” and “cultural” influences, ontogenesis and biography whose nature is determined above all by the concrete historical conditions of man’s social life, when the structure of social relationships which are realised in joint activities with other people and in communication (1) pass into the internal structure of the personality. C.A. to M. as to an integral formation, represented in the unity of his natural and social conditions, makes it possible to study his psychology in two directions: subordinational, or hierarchical, according to which the more complex and general special features of a personality subordinate to themselves the more elementary and particular social and psychophysiological features; coordinational, according to which the interaction of diverse psychological features and functions allows their relative autonomy. C.A. to M. has shown the complex but stable interrelation of the characteristics of man as an individual and a personality, revealed the regularity of the stages of their appearance and development, determined the age and sex differences in their functioning, and established an interconnection between sensory, intellectual, mnemonic and other functions and their dependence on man’s individual life. C.A. to M. was developed further in the works of Boris Ananyev’s pupils and followers.

Comprehension

Comprehension, ability to grasp the meaning of something, and the result achieved thereby. C. is studied by a wide range of humanities, viz., psychology, philosophy, history, sociology, history of literature (literary criticism), etc. Hermeneutics (the art and theory of text interpretation) is the special 57 science on C. One should not identify C. with knowledge, i.e. with a person’s ability to master and reproduce the sum of certain evidence whose correctness he does not doubt, since there can be knowledge without C. and C. without knowledge (insight). C. is characterised by a sensation of clear intrinsic coherence and organisation of the examined phenomena. This may be logical ordering of “seeing” causeand-effect relationships, when facts previously listed mechanically are combined in a single logical system (C. of a proof of a mathematical theorem; C. of some formula or natural law; etc.). A person may also clearly sense the coherence and intelligibility of events without perceiving their logical framework. In this case, the event or phenomenon would come out as something directed at a certain objective, comparable with the given subject’s aims: the person in question would understand the behaviour, thoughts, and motives of another man; in the same way, C. could involve socio-cultural events, including historical ones, and also literary monuments; again, C. of animal behaviour and natural events could take place in connection with their anthropomorphisation, i.e. when they are judged by analogies from human behaviour. Finally, C. could occur on the basis of common emotional experience or identification (C. of other person’s emotions; undifferentiated "C. of man"; C. of ethical and aesthetical phenomena; etc.). The result of C. would be a meaning subjectively unique, but not arbitrary for the individual, since C., in the final count, is determined by sociocultural factors independent of that individual. The role of language in C. (C. of texts and oral communications in natural and artificial languages, for instance has been studied most thoroughly. Identification, projection, social perception (see Perception, Social), empathy, insight, intuition, and causal attribution (see Attribution, Causal) are the psychological mechanisms of human C.

Concentration

Concentration, a phenomenon opposite to irradiation; the ability of nervous processes to limit the sphere of their spread to the initial seat of their appearance. According to Ivan Pavlov, C. is a mechanism for differentiating conditioned stimuli and specialising conditioned reactions.

Concept

Concept, a logical form of thinking; the highest level of generalisation characteristic of verbal-logical thinking. C. may be concrete and abstract. The most abstract C’s are called categories. Psychology studies C.’s development. The assimilation of C’s developed by other people should be distinguished from independently developed new C’s. In empirical studies of thinking, investigators widely use the following methods: (a) C. definition; (b) C. comparison; (c) C. classification; and (d) C. artificial formation (see Generalisation). Psychology also studies the degree of C. systematisation (semantic nets). Special fields of psychology involve investigations of C’s about the material world, other 58 people, and oneself. Distinction is made between commonsensical and scientific C’s, and between spontaneous and controlled C. development. Soviet psychologists (Vassili Davydov and Daniil Elkonin) have proved the possibility of conceptual structures forming earlier in children subjected to specialised training than in those who develop them spontaneously.

Conditioned Reflex

Conditioned Reflex, a reflex that forms with the convergence in time of any initially indifferent irritant with the subsequent action of an irritant that causes an unconditioned reflex. The term C.R. was suggested by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. As a result of C.R., the irritant that previously failed to cause a corresponding reaction, begins to induce it to turn into a signalling (conditioned, i.e. showing in specific conditions) irritant. Physiologists distinguish two forms of C.R’s, viz. classical, i.e. those obtained by the above-mentioned technique, and instrumental (operational), whose development is unconditionally reinforced only after the arisal of a specific locomotor reaction by the animal in question (see Operant Conditioning). The C.R.-forming mechanism was initially understood as making a way between two centres, namely, between conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. At present, scientists accept the idea that the C.R. mechanism is a complex functional system with feedback, i.e. one organised by the principle of a circle, rather than an arc. Animal C.R’s form a signalling system, wherein their habitat agents are their signalling irritants. In man, the first signalling system, engendered by environmental effects, is supplemented by the second signalling system, in which the word (which Pavlov called the "signal of signals") acts as a conditioned irritant (see Signal Systems).

Conflict

Conflict, the collision of counterposed, incompatible tendencies in the consciousness of an individual, in interpersonal interaction or interpersonal relations of individuals or groups of people, associated with sharply negative emotional experiences. Distinguished in psychology are the following types of C.: 1. Intrapersonal C.—the collision of motives, needs, interests, drives, etc. of approximately equal force in one person. 2. Interpersonal C.—a situation of interaction of people when they either pursue incompatible goals, or uphold incompatible values and norms, endeavouring to realise them in relations with each other, or simultaneously in an acute competitive struggle seek to attain the same goal, which can be achieved by only one of the conflicting sides. 3. Intergroup C., where the conflicting sides are social groups which pursue incompatible goals and by their practical actions obstruct each other. The problem of intrapersonal C. is being investigated in general and pedagogic psychology, in pathopsychology and psychoanalysis. One of its first experimental studies was conducted by Alexander Luria. Basing himself on the propositions of Kurt Lewin’s "field theory" (see Topological Psychology), 59 he suggested the classification of C’s, which consists of three main types:
1. “Approach-approach” C.—a situation when a person has to choose one of two equally attractive alternatives.
2. “Approach-avoidance” C.—one and the same goal is equally attractive and unattractive for the individual making a choice and engenders both positive and negative emotions. This kind of C. is sometimes called ambivalent. 3. “Avoidance-avoidance” C.— here an individual is forced to choose one of two equally unattractive alternatives. A special case of an intrapersonal type of C. is the so-called C. of roles—social situations in which role actions incompatible with each other are expected from one individual. As for interpersonal C’s, two concepts are represented in Western social psychology: motivational and cognitive. In the first, C. is defined as a conscious incompatibility of an individual’s intentions and interests, while putting the stress on the role of subjective factors in C. The proponents of this concept assert that C. is an inalienable part of social existence, of interaction of individuals and groups. The cognitive approach sees C’s bases in the incompatibility of knowledge, notions, cognitive strategies of opposed sides (see Cognitive Psychology; Cognitive Dissonance, Theory of). It is asserted that C. becomes a reality only if it, as such, is accepted and perceived by the participants (Felix Deutsch). Dominant in both these approaches is an individualistic and pragmatic interpretation of C’s nature. Contrary to this, Marxist-oriented social psychology studies C. by relating it to determination of individual behaviour by sociohistorical factors and regularities, and treating C. as a kind of reflection of contradictions in the joint activities of a group. It has been experimentally established that the presence and nature of C. depends on the level of group development. The higher" this level is, the lower the degree to which individualistic interests become the cause of intragroup C. Goal-oriented contradictions in the course of joint activities much less often than personoriented ones lead to a breach of normal interpersonal relations. Thus psychological phenomena which characterise C. can be grasped only in close interconnection with the sociopsychological features of a group as a system of joint activities.

Conformity

Conformity, a person’s tendency to change his behaviour under the influence of other people so that it would correspond to the opinion of one’s associates, a striving to adapt it to their demands. C. is recorded where there is a conflict between an individuals own opinion and that of the group he belongs to, if this conflict is resolved through accord with the group’s opinion. The investigation of C. was begun in the works of Solomon Asch, where C. appeared as an individual’s tendency to change his opinion under the influence of a group, to adopt the viewpoint expressed by the majority. Experiments were conducted primarily in diffuse groups (see Group, Diffuse), in which the subjects jointly solved simple, 60 insignificant problems. Subsequently, C. was declared a universal regularity of a person’s behaviour in diverse social situations. The theoretical interpretations and traditional experimental diagram of pinpointing C. clearly reveal an essentially mechanistic interpretation of the mutual relations of people in society. Critically assessing the results of corresponding studies, Soviet social psychology rejects the theses of C.’s universality and generality as a form of an individual’s reaction to the influence of a social community. The fact is that in Asch’s and his followers’ experiments the value and goal factors acting as a mediator in relations between people were deliberately neutralised. The introduction into a programme of experimental research of a group’s values and goals as a mediating variable revealed an opposition to both conformity and non-conformity ( negativism) of a special phenomenon inherent in interpersonal relations in groups with a high level of development (see Level of Group Development)—collectivist self-determination, interpreted as a conscious solidarity of an individual with a collective, acceptance and active support of its goals, values and norms. Collectivist self-determination may coincide with the majority opinion but, if this opinion runs counter to the goals and values of the collective in which social norms have been accumulated, an individual may display his independence of such an opinion.

Conscience

Conscience, an individual’s ability to exercise moral self-control; independently formulate moral duties for himself; and demand of himself fulfilment of those duties and selfappraisal of resultant actions. C. is a manifestation of an individual’s moral self-consciousness, and manifests itself both as rational awareness of the moral significance of one’s actions and as emotional experience, e.g. pangs of remorse.

Consciousness

Consciousness, the supreme level of mental reflection of objective reality, inherent in man exclusively by virtue of his socio-historical essence. Empirically, C. is a continually changing totality of sensory images and thoughts that arise directly before the subject in his "inner experience", and anticipate his practical activity. C. is studied by several sciences, such as philosophy (the main question of philosophy is that of the relation of C. to being), logic, linguistics, neurophysiology, anthropology, sociology, and ethnography. Psychology studies the origin, structure and functioning of individual C. C. is characterised by activeness; intentionality (orientation to some object: general C.—specific C., see Intention); power of reflexion, self-observation (awareness of C. itself); and motivational and value aspects; and different degrees (levels) of clarity. The C. of any individual is unique, but not arbitrary, being conditioned by external factors independent of C. (primarily by the structures of the social system in which the individual exists). The study of C. involves two basic difficulties. First, 61 all psychological phenomena appear before the individual to an extent to which they are comprehended ( including the unconscious, which is comprehended either as a result of a special procedure for "bringing something to C.", or, indirectly, in the form of distorted C.). According to evidence obtained in self-observation, C. lacks its own psychological specifics; its only feature is that it confronts the individual (with varying degree of clarity) with different phenomena constituting the essence of specific psychological functions. Hence, C. was either regarded as a general condition (with no quality) for the existence of psyche and designated metaphorically ("the light of C.", "the field of C.", "C. is the general master of psychological functions", etc.), or equally improperly identified with some mental function (most often with attention or thinking). In the first case, concrete study of C. ( including experimental study) was absolutely out of the question, and in the second case it was substituted for the study of its corresponding function. All this engendered the view that for scientific psychology C. is complete fiction (William James). The second difficulty stems from the first one: C. (like individual mental functions) cannot be localised in space; but, unlike mental functions, C. (because of its "lack of quality") can neither be “split” in time. Researchers failed to find C. characteristics, by which it could be studied by methods familiar to psychology, such as measuring C. in specific time units or comparing C. thus measured. Kant’s idea about the existence of stable, invariant C. structures and schemes superimposed on a continually changing stream of sensory information coming from the sense organs and organising it in a definite way was important for a constructive analysis of C. For ages, the problem of C. has been the subject of acute ideological and theoretical debates, in which the materialist approach based on the natural sciences opposed idealistreligious theories. Marx, Engels, and Lenin, who radically revised Hegel’s ideas, had a decisive impact on the solution of the problem of C. They stated that C. structures are of sociocultural nature and had formed phylogenetically (see Phylogenesis), in the course of man’s history, under the influence of supra-individual social structures (see The Super conscious) that appeared in the course of joint activities (primarily in material production). Soviet psychology developed a general concept about the ontogenetic nature of C. The structures of the individual’s C. form in early ontogenesis owing to assimilation (see Interiorisation) by the child of the elements of activity, such as communication (1) with adults. The basic possibility of such assimilation forms in the course of phylogenetic ( historical) development. Object-related activity and its attribute, communication, possess the following main properties reflected in its structure: social origin and composition (which is expressed in its social reglamentation and also in its mediation by various implements and signs); involvement of two subjects; and object orientation. 62 The structure of joint activities engenders the structure of C., correspondingly determining its following main properties: social nature (including mediation by sign, as well as verbal and symbolic structures); capacity for reflexion and inner dialogue; and ’ object-related character.

Constancy (in psychology)

Constancy (in psychology), relative independence of the perceived characteristics of objects from the dimensions of stimulation of receptor surfaces of sense organs. Thus, C. of the perceived size of an object is expressed in the fact that it is perceived as approximately equal in size despite a change of distance from the observer. Similarly, the form of the perceived object remains the same with the change of the visual angle at which it is observed, while the visible colour of the surface is relatively invariable with respect to the spectral composition of light, though it changes the chromatic characteristics of the light reflected by this surface.

Contagion (in social psychology)

Contagion (in social psychology), the process of transmitting an emotional state from one individual to another on a psycho-physiological level apart from or supplementary to the semantic impact as such. This may contain a distinctive degree of spontaneity. With feedback, C. is capable of growth due to reciprocal induction, acquiring the semblance of a circular reaction (see Crowd; Mass Panic). Such a reaction accompanies spectacular mass actions, public perception of speeches, works of art, etc., and serves as an additional rallying factor; unless it exceeds a certain optimal intensity. Reciprocal C. which is beyond control leads to the disintegration of the formal and informal normative-role structures, and. the organised interacting group degenerates into a mob.

Contamination (in psychology)

Contamination (in psychology), = incorrect reproduction of words by combining syllables forming parts of different words into one word (for instance, instead of the words “winkle” and “twinkle” the word “trinkle” is pronounced). Such transpositions may appear not only within a word, but also in reproducing lists of words; when words from one list are reproduced in another. C. is facilitated by a word’s semantic and phonetic proximity. C. is based on proactive and retroactive interference phenomena. In pathology, C. is observed in cases of diverse disturbances of memory (see Amnesia). The semantic organisation of material subject to memorising, as a rule, obstructs the appearance of C.

Content Analysis (in psychology)

Content Analysis (in psychology), a method of revealing and assessing specific characteristics of texts by registering certain units of content, and also the systematic measurement’ of the frequency and volume of the mention of these units in individual fragments of the text or in the sum total of texts under investigation. C.A. , is used primarily for analysing the content of mass communication materials, as well as texts of interviews, replies to open questions of questionnaires, etc. C.A. makes it possible to 63 reveal the individual psychological characteristics of a communicator, audience, message and their interrelation. C.A., as a scientific method of psychology, is used to obtain information which meets certain criteria of quality (such as objectivity, reliability and validity). A notable role in enhancing the quality’ of C.A. is played by methods of statistical analysis of C.A. data. Factor analysis, which helps reveal hidden factors that determine the content of texts, is used especially widely.

Contiguous-Motor Technique

Contiguous-Motor Technique, a method for examining affective human reactions originally developed by the Soviet psychologist Alexander Luria. Unlike the methods of recording symptoms of affective reactions via changed vegetative functions (respiration, arterial pressure, pulse rate, etc.), C.-M.T. makes it possible to study the reflection of those reactions in speech and motor processes. The subject is successively offered several’verbal irritants, and to each word in a row he must give a free association with another word, simultaneously pressing a pneumatic wrench with his right- and left-hand digits. The emotional state caused by the word is registered by verbal reactions and impaired motor reactions (changed duration, forms, etc.). Combined verbal and motor symptoms reflect variations in emotional states . more amply than the traditionally used vegetative indices.

Control, Social

Control, Social, forms and methods of influence used by society and social groups to regulate the behaviour of people included in them. C.,S. methods include reward if the behaviour of an individual corresponds to the accepted norms and standards, and punishment, if it deviates from them. C.,S. subjects are the state, social institutions and organisations, and social groups to which the individual belongs. Realisation of C.,S. is implemented through sanctions—measures influencing an individual. They may be positive (encouragement, reward, approval, support, etc.) and negative (diverse forms of punishment), official, formal (based on law, administrative and legal acts) and unofficial, informal (based on public opinion). Social psychologists investigate primarily C.,S. forms realised by social groups. Each group or collective works out a set of measures influencing its members, methods of persuasion and suggestion, encouragement, punishment and coercion exerted on them in the course of joint activities. Primarily those individuals whose behaviour, either in the positive or negative sense, deviates significantly from group norms are subjected to C.,S. Interpersonal interaction and interpersonal relations are simplified and regulated with the help of C.,S., and the group gets an opportunity successfully to fulfil the functions it is charged with (see also: Norms, Group).

Conversion

Conversion, formation of a new meaning of a word when it passes into a new paradigm of word-changing (for instance, to bake—a bake), or its use in a non-traditional 64 context. C. is sometimes the cause of semantic barriers in communication (1). The mechanism of C. is used as a means of inventing humorous sayings.

Conviction

Conviction, a special personality trait which determines the general line of all individual activity and value orientations and regulates individual consciousness and behaviour. C. takes the form of an individual’s attitude towards his actions and beliefs, this attitude being due to profound and well-grounded certitude in the truth of the knowledge, principles and ideals that govern the individual. Personal needs, value orientations and social norms realised on the basis of C. are included in the objective forms of activity and determine the individual’s behaviour. C. depends on personal experience and the individual’s relationships with society, and is based on knowledge, above all ideological knowledge (see World Outlook), which, closely interwoven with the will, constitute the substance of action motives, and individual attitudes. C. represents the ideological and psychological foundation for fostering in the individual volitional qualities like courage, resoluteness, tenacity, and loyalty to one’s ideals. C. may take the form of profound penetration into the socio-historical processes, and social and moral . demands. Such is communist C., the generalised trait of an individual enriched with ^profound knowledge of Marxist-Leninist theory and with certitude in the truth of its tenets and communist ideals, an individual governed by those ideals in his everyday activities. C. may take perverted forms, when an individual uncritically assimilates ideas and dogmatically accepts certain principles, someone’s incontestable authority (see Bias).

Corporation

Corporation, an organised group characterised by seclusion, maximum centralisation and authoritarianism of leadership, which counterposes itself to other social communities on the basis of its narrow individualistic interests. Interpersonal relations in C. are mediated by asocial, and often anti-social value orientations. The personalisation of an individual in C. is achieved at the cost of the depersonalisation of other individuals.

Corrective Psychology

Corrective Psychology, a field of juridical psychology dealing with conditions and peculiarities of rehabilitating and re-educating law- breakers, primarily ’in corrective-labour establishments (the intellectual and personal traits of these persons, the process of their adaptation to finding themselves in correctional establishments, the mental state evoked by imprisonment, the methods pf shaping a positive attitude to labour, the moulding of the attitude to reform). C.P. examines both the psychology of individual law-breakers and the structure of formal and informal groups in places of confinement, the psychological mechanism of their origins and functioning. The results of research into C.P. are used to elaborate practical psychological and 65 educational recommendations aimed at resocialising law-breakers and creating in them a psychological readiness for normal, free life, as well as recidivism preventin.

Correlation Analysis (in psychology)

Correlation Analysis (in psychology), a statistical method of evaluating the form, sign and strength of relations between examined characteristics or factors. When determining the forms of a relationship, its linearity or nonlinearity are examined (i.e. how y changes depending on the changes in x, and x—on those in y). Also broadly used in psychological investigations is the relation coefficient <p, which is calculated in case of the simplest classification. For instance, if the subject possesses certain properties attributed to him it is 1, if he lacks them—O. Essentially cp represents the correlation coefficient for dichotomous data. Amofig the widely used variants of C.A. in psychology are the calculation of rank order, partial, multiple and other coefficients of correlation.

Courage

Courage, a personal quality, which finds expression in an ability to act with determination and purpose in a complex and dangerous situation, control one’s impulses, overcome a possible feeling of fear and uncertainty, in knowing how to mobilise one’s forces to achieve a goal. The highest manifestation of C. is heroism.

Creative Activity

Creative Activity, activity resulting in novel material and intellectual values. Being essentially a cultural and historical phenomenon, C.A. involves personal and procedural psychological aspects. It implies the presence of individual abilities, motives, knowledge and capability instrumental in creating a product distinguished by novelty, originality and uniqueness. A study of these traits revealed the important role of imagination and intuition, unconscious components of mental activity, and also of personal needs in selfactualisation, i.e. in disclosing and augmenting one’s creative potentials. As a process, C.A. was initially examined judging from self- accounts by artists and scientists, in which a special role was assigned to illumination, inspiration, insight, and similar states that replace preliminary work of thought. Henry Wallace distinguished the following four stages in C.A.: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. He regarded illumination to be the central, specifically creative element, whereby the individual intuitively grasps the sought result. Experimental investigations demonstrated that an intuitive solution arises in objectdirected activity accessible to objective analysis. In distinguishing the specifics of the psychological regulation of C.A., Konstantin Stanislavsky, the great Russian actor, producer and director, advanced the idea about the superconsciousness as the supreme concentration of personal spiritual forces in engendering the product of C.A. (see The Superconscious). With the development of cybernetics, new attempts were made to simulate C.A. on computers (heuristic programming). 66 At the same time, the interest towards non-formalisable C.A. was sharply enhanced by assigning formalisable mental operations to technical devices. The dependence thereon of scientific and technological progress (discoveries, inventions, etc.) caused psychologists to concentrate on developing methods for diagnosing creative abilities and stimulating C.A. (see, for instance, Brain-Storming). The fact that C.A. is conditioned by the sphere of culture in which it is actualised (production, technology, the arts, science, politics, pedagogy, etc.) makes it necessary to reveal the specificity and essential correlations of the psychology of C.A. in each respective sphere.

Creativity Tests

Creativity Tests, a set of techniques for examining and assessing individual creative abilities. The ability to generate original ideas, to deviate frcftn common thinking patterns, and to quickly solve problem situations was distinguished among intellectual abilities as a special aptitude and termed creativity. The study of creative achievement factors is performed in two directions: (1) by analysing the life experience and individual features of the creative personality (personality factors), and (2) by analysing creative thinking and its products (factors of creativity—speed, clarity, flexible thinking, sensitivity towards problems in hand, originality, inventiveness, a constructive approach in solving these problems, etc.). The question whether creativity is an intellectindependent property still remains unresolved. Nor have reliable ways of measuring creativity been found. The fact that the subject has solved a C.T., i.e. fulfilled corresponding tasks, may be taken as evidence of individual creative ability, whereas the fact that he had failed to do so does not yet prove the absence of such an ability. Again, the fact that creativity changes with age and is subject to external effects gives little credibility to existing C.T’s as reliable forecasts of successful future creative activity. Correspondingly, practical application of C.T’s lacks adequate reliability. Creative accomplishments in all areas of human endeavour require a complex combination of individual abilities and personality traits.

Criminal Psychology

Criminal Psychology, a sphere of juridical psychology studying the psychological mechanism of violations of law and the psychology of criminals, problems of formation, structure, functioning and disintegration of criminal groups. Soviet C.P. rejects the" "born criminal" doctrine, implements the dialectical-materialist principle of development, which determines the study of the entire variety of phenomena, above all social, which influence the formation of the psychological peculiarities of criminals.

Crises, Age

Crises, Age, a conventional term for more or less pronounced states of conflict, emerging during the transition from one age period to another. Though not inevitable, C.,A. may take place in a child’s psychological development. During these periods contradictions appearing in the process of 67 deveopment often acquire a particularly acute form, causing intense emotional experiences, and”disturbance of mutual understanding in contacts with adults (see Barrier, Semantic). The source of C.,A. may be contradictions between the growing physical and spiritual potentialities of a child and earlier formed mutual relations with the people around him and types of activity. The C.,A. acuteness is also influenced by the child’s individual characteristics (see Mental Development) .

Criterion-Oriented Tests

Criterion-Oriented Tests, a technique of psychodiagnosis, taking account of the subject’s performance in solving specific classes of tasks, viz. educational, professional, etc., included in the actions he is to perform. C.-O.T. are designed to establish what classes of tasks (or individual tasks) are accessible to the subject. Accordingly, in devising tests, the investigator would analyse logical and psychological aspects of the tasks to be solved by the subject. These tasks^ comprise the concepts and terms and their correlations that follow from the test scope, which is to forecast how the subject would fulfil a specific class of tasks (Konstantin Gurevich).

Crowd (mob)

Crowd (mob), an amorphous aggregation of people devoid of distinctly conscious common goals, but interlinked by similarity of emotional state and common object of attention. The basic mechanisms instrumental in the forming of a C. and in the development of its specific qualities are believed to be a circular response (growing and reciprocally directed emotional contagion) and rumours. Psychologists identify four basic forms of C., viz. (1) occasional C., bound by curiosity towards an unexpectedly occurred event (traffic accident, etc); (2) conventional C., bound by interest for some previously announced mass recreation, e.g. some sporting contest, etc., and ready (often only temporarily) to follow quite diffuse behavioural patterns; (3) expressive C., which jointly shows its common attitude to some event, say, in the form of joy, enthusiasm, indignation, protest, etc.; the extreme form of expressive C. is an ecstatic C., which owing to reciprocal rhythmically growing contagion, reaches a state of general ecstasy (like at some mass religious rites, carnivals, rock concerts, etc.); and (4) acting C., which in turn, includes (a) aggressive C., bound with blind hatred for some object (as in lynch trials, beating-up of religious or political opponents, and so on), (b) panic-stricken C., which spontaneously flies from a real or imaginary source of danger (see Mass Panic), (c) grabber C., whose individual elements enter into a disordered direct conflict over some material values, e.g. money, vacant seats in departing municipal transport, etc., and ’(d) rebelling C., in which people share common and just indignation over authorities’ actions; not infrequently this type of C. is an attribute of revolutionary upheavals, and timely organisation may elevate its spontaneous mass action to a conscious act of 68 political struggle. The most important property of a C., namely, its easy convertibility from one type (subtype) into another, is virtually due to the absence of clear goals and also to the absence or diffuse nature of C. structure. Such transformations are often spontaneous; however, knowledge of their regularities and mechanisms makes it possible to either intentionally manipulate C. behaviour for adventurist purposes, (something characteristic of reactionary political regimes which often deliberately provoke pogroms, mob law, etc.) or consciously prevent and stop particularly dangerous C. actions.

Cues

Cues, objects of living and non-living nature biologically significant for animals (see Instinctive Behaviour of Animals).

Cultural-Historical Theory

Cultural-Historical Theory, the theory of a person’s psychological development evolved in the 1920s-1930s by the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky with the participation of his pupil Alexei N. Leontiev and Alexander Luria. In formulating the C.-H.T. they critically interpreted the expe-. rience of Gestalt psychology, the French psychological school (primarily that of Jean Piaget), and also the structuralsemiotic orientation in linguistics and literary criticism [Mikhail Bakhtin, Edward Sapir, Ferdinand de Saussure, the "formal school" in literary criticism of the Soviet Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ), and others]. Primary importance attaches to the orientation on Marxist philosophy. In accordance with the C.-H.T., the main regularity of the ontogenesis of the mind consists in a child’s interiorisation of the structure of his external socio-symbolic (i.e. performed jointly with adults and mediated by signs) activity. As a result, the former structure of “natural” psychological functions is changed—it becomes mediated by interiorised signs—and psychic | functions become “cultural”. Overtly | this is manifested in that these functions become conscious and voluntary. ’ Thereby interiorisation also acts as socialisation. In the course of interiorisation the structure of external activity is transformed and “compressed” in order to be once again transformed and to “extend” in the process of exteriorisation, when “outer” social activity is construed on the basis of psychic function. The language sign— word—acts as a universal instrument which changes psychic functions. Out- j lined here is the possibility of explaining , the verbal and symbolic (see Symbol) character of cognitive processes in man. C.-H.T. on the general psycho-, logical level and from other methodological positions advanced problems addressed by the symbolic interactionists (see Inter-actionism) and the supporters of the Sapir and Whorf hypothesis (see Linguistic Relativity, Hypothesis of). To check the main propositions of C.-H.T. Lev Vygotsky and his colleagues developed a "method of double stimulation", with the help of which the process of symbol mediation was modelled, and the mechanism of “implantation” of symbols into the structure of psychic functions— 69 attention, memory, thought—was studied. A by-product of C.-H.T.,.a proposition on "next development zone"—a period of time in which there takes place a restructuring of a child’s psychic functions under the jnfluence of interiorisation of a structure of a sign-mediated activity performed jointly with adults—is important for the theory of learning. C.-H.T. has been criticised, by Vygotsky’s pupils included, for its unwarranted counterposing of “natural” and “cultural” psychic functions; for seeing the mechanism of socialisation as linked primarily with the mastery of signsymbolic (language) forms; for underestimating the role of man’s objectoriented practical activity. The’ latter argument became a point of departure for Vygotsky’s pupils who elaborated the theory of activity structure in psychology. At present C.-H.T. is addressed to in connection with the analysis of processes of communication (1), the study of the dialogical nature of a number of cognitive processes (see Dialogue), with the use in psychology of the methodology of structuralsemiotic studies.