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Rapport

Rapport, (1) in the broad sense of the word, the term "R." is used in foreign literature to designate: (a) close interpersonal relations based on a high degree of community of thoughts, interests, and feelings; and (b) an amiable, friendly atmosphere resulting in a psychological experiment between the experimenter and subject; (2) in the narrow sense of the word, the term "R." signifies the emergent relationship between the hypnotist and the hypnotised during hypnosis. R. is characterised by a high degree of selectivity and perception, resulting from hypnosis-narrowed span of consciousness, specifically by hypersensitivity to the hypnotist’s suggestions (mainly verbal), and by insensitivity to other influences. As a specific form of intrinsic dependency, expressing readiness to fulfil the hypnotist’s suggestions, R. develops and stabilises with deepening of the hypnotic state.

Rating

Rating, a term designating a subjective assessment of some phenomenon by a preset scale. R. is used to initially classify socio-psychological objects by degree of salience of their common property (expert estimates). In social sciences, R. serves as a foundation for constructing a variety of rating scales, e.g. in assessing various aspects of work, personal popularity, prestige of specific occupations, and so on. The results obtained are normally in the form of ordinal scales (see Scaling).

Rating Scale

Rating Scale, a technique that allows to classify the totality of objects under study by the prominence of their common property. The technique is based on subjective rating of a given property averaged for a group of experts. In psychology and sociology, R.S’s were among the first to be used. 259 The simplest example is the usual school system of marks. A R.S. has from five to eleven intervals which may be designated by numbers or formulated verbally. The common view is that man’s psychological possibilities do not allow him to classify objects over more than 11-13 positions. The possibility to construct a R.S. is based on the assumption that every expert can give quantitative assessments of objects under study. Paired comparison of objects and their assignment to categories are the principal techniques of scaling.

Rating Scaling

Rating Scaling, a method of constructing a scale to measure relationships between objects on the basis of expert estimates (ratings).

Raving (psychotic)

Raving (psychotic), false ideas and inferences that contradict reality, but which a pathologically convinced person persists in and which cannot be modified by reasoning. R. is a symptom of numerous mental disorders and may widely vary in form: e.g. R. of persecution, poisoning, jealosy, grandeur, etc. Two types of R. are distinguished. The first involves disruption of the cognitive sphere, when the patient supports his incorrect judgement by several subjective proofs combined in a “logical” system. The second type involves, in addition, a deranged sensory sphere, when the patient’s R. is of imaginal nature, with predominant day-dreaming and fantasies. In some cases, R. is accompanied by affective manifestations of fear, unaccountable anxiety, sensation of vague danger, (e.g. paronoid R. of persecution, in which the patient interprets gestures and actions of people as a “conspiracy”, “sign-giving”, etc. and hence tries to flee or hide). R. should be distinguished from supervalent ideas, when a certain vital problem assumes excessively high (supervalent) significance in the mind of a mentally healthy person.

Reaction (in psychology)

Reaction (in psychology), any response of an organism to changes in the external or internal medium, ranging from a biochemical R. of an individual cell to a conditioned reflex.

Reaction Time

Reaction Time, the interval between the presentation of a signal (optical, acoustic, tactile, etc.) and the start of an instruction-conditioned response of the subject to that signal. The simplest motor reaction which establishes the occurrence of a certain signal ("detection rea sion") would normally last about 0.2 second, in case of more complex tasks, e.g. those involving one or several possible signals ("discrimination reaction") or choice of one or several forms of response ("choice reaction"), the R.T. would increase. By recording the R.T. researchers also perform a time study of problem solution processes, e.g. reasoning by analogy or understanding a sentence. The R.T. would depend on the type of the signal, nature of the problem, type of the response, direction of attention, attitude and the subject’s psychic state, and also on his more stable individual characteristics. Time score is being increasingly 260 used in general and engineering psychology, in neuropsychology, psycholinguistics, and other mainly experimental branches of contemporary psychology. This is due to the absolute nature of the time scale, which excludes arbitrary transformations.

Reactive States

Reactive States, specific mental conditions (psychogenic disorders) whose clinical picture reflects the contents of the psychic trauma in question. The following R.S’s are distinguished: (1) reactive depressions, when a psychic trauma causes the individual to be in depressed state, which manifests itself in inhibition and poor mimicry (the person’s movements are slow, his answers are short and lack expression), the patient’s thoughts are constantly concentrated on what has happened and he is perpetually engrossed in relevant pathological emotions; (2) affective shock reactions, normally arising in response to some mass calamities and manifested in a decrease of consciousness, panic, disorderly locomotor activity or, conversely, in complete inhibition ( psychogenic stupor). In response to an illness or severe psychotrauma, persons with psychopathic constitution (see Psychopathies) may develop reactive psychoses in the form of reactive raving, oneiric states, etc.

Reactology

Reactology, a trend in Soviet psychology that used to interpret it as the "science of behaviour" of living creatures, including man. R. was developed by the Soviet psychologist K. N. Kornilov. Reaction (all responses of organisms, including one-celled organisms), the central notion of R., was regarded as a universal property of all living creatures, as the response of the whole body, not just of a single organ, as a property qualified by mental characteristics (in higher representatives of the animal world). The task of R. was to study the velocity, intensity and form of the said reaction by means of various techniques. In the view of psychologists who sided with R., the transformation of the notion "reflex" and its expansion to the category “reaction” made it possible to “synthetise” subjective and objective psychology. Yet, this synthesis was artificial and formal, and R. was developed through eclectic combination with certain mechanistic and psychic energy ideas. As a result, there appeared in R. a contradiction between the correctly posed objectives of a new psychology and the meagre programme of its concrete substance. The essence of these contradictions was laid bare in psychological discussions of the early 1930s (the "reactological discussion"), which led to abandonment of reactological schemes and elimination of the concept of R. from psychology.

Reason and Intelligence

Reason and Intelligence (in philosophical and psychological tradition), two types of logical thinking. Being an element in the movement of thought towards truth, reason operates within the limits of ready knowledge by data gained from expeience to structure them in accordance with strictly established rules. This imparts reason 261 the nature of a "certain spiritual automation" (Spinoza) with inherently rigid orderliness in categorisation and judgement and tendency to simplify and schematise thought. This allows a corect classification of events and systematisation of knowledge. Reason ensures successful adjustment of the individual to habitual cognitive situations, especially in solving utilitarian problems. The limitation of reason is in its inflexibility and finality of judgements, inability to go beyond the subject-matter in question. In cases when human intellectual activity is limited by operations of reason, it becomes abstractedly formal. Intelligence produces deeper and more generalised knowledge. By grasping the meaning of the unity of opposites, it makes it possible to comprehend various aspects of the object in question in their dissimilarities, mutual transitions, and essential characteristics. Intelligence has the ability to analyse and generalise data of both sensory experience and one’s own thoughts and, by overcoming their unilateral nature, to develop notions that reflect the dialectics of the objective world. The main difference between intelligence and reason, which implies operation with already known concepts, is in that the former goes beyond available knowledge to engender new notions. Intelligence is constructive, reflexive (see Reflexion), and oriented to higher social objectives. In the actual work of logical thought, reason and intelligence are intrinsically related as components of an integral process of cognition.

Recall

Recall, mental actions for searching, reproducing and retrieving necessary information from one’s long-term memory (see Memory, Long-Term), R. is a voluntary form of recollection.

Recapitulation

Recapitulation, a brief recurrence in ontogenesis of signs of philogenetic (historical) forms (see Phylogenesis; Biogenetic law).

Recency Effect

Recency Effect, greater probability of remembering the last items of a series rather than the middle ones (see Sequence Effect). R.E. is studied within the context of memory, learning processes, and social perception investigations. R.E. was found to depend on the nature of the activity performed directly after a series of items were presented to a subject, rather than on the series length or item presentation rate: if the subject was to solve some problem related to signal detection, R.E. would persist; if, however, the task was a verbal one, e.g. an arithmetical problem, R.E. would be absent. R.E. is caused by extraction of information from short-term memory (see Memory, Short-Term). When R.E. is absent, that information is superposed by other similar information arriving in the short-term memory storage. Like the sequence effect, R.E. has no unambiguous explanation. In social psychology, R.E. (more familiar as the novelty effect) is studied in perception of people by one another: the last, i.e. newer information about a given person proves more 262 significant with regard to a familiar individual, and original information more meaningful with regard to an unfamiliar one (see Primacy Effect).

Reception

Reception, transformation of environmental energy into a neural process of spreading excitation, which transmits to the neural centres information about the effects of corresponding irritant. The psychophysical dependence described by the Weber-Fechner law arises in the sensory (perceptual) systems already in the very first, receptory stage. Receptor function is controlled by the central nervous system via efferent fibres contained in sensory nerves (see Brain).

Receptor

Receptor, a peripheral specialised part of an analyser that transforms only specific forms of energy into nervous excitation. R’s vary widely in structure complexity and in adaptation to their own function. Depending on the energy of the corresponding stimulation, R’s are classified into mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors. Mechanoreceptors are present in the ear, vestibular apparatus, muscles, joints, skin, and visceral organs. Chemoreceptors transmit olfactory and gustatory sensibility; many of them are located in the brain, and react to changes in the chemical composition of the body’s liquid medium. Visual R’s are also essentially chemoreceptors. Depending on their place and function in the body, R’s are classified into exteroceptors, interoceptors, and proprioceptors. Exteroceptors include distal R’s, which obtain information at a certain distance from the stimulation source, e.g. olfactory, acoustic, visual, and gustatory R’s.; interoceptors signal internal medium stimuli; and proprioceptors signal the state of the body’s locomotor system. Some R’s are anatomically interconnected and form receptory fields that can overlap.

Recipient

Recipient, an individual who perceives a message addressed to him. An individual responding to the message is the respondent.

Recognition

Recognition, identification of a perceived object as one already familiar in past experience (see Identification). R. is based on the comparison of available perception with mnemonic traces. R. differs in degree of certainty, distinctness, completeness and control. R. is voluntary when it is used to establish the efffcacy of memorising or learning. The level of R. is always higher than that of reproduction, no matter what reproduction techniques are used. In the absence of a specific identification tasks, R. is voluntary and may be incomplete, indeterminate, and phantom. In the latter case, the subject would, for instance, feel he knows another person, whereas he has never met him before (see Paramnesia). Sometimes, an incomplete involuntary R. would engender the task of recall and turn into voluntary R.

Recollection

Recollection, the act of retrieving from long-term memory (see Memory, Long-Term) of past images, mentally localised in time and space. R. may 263 be voluntary (recall) and involuntary, when images arise spontaneously in the mind (see Perseverance). In voluntary R. of some event, the subject consciously restores his attitude thereto, and this may be accompanied by emotions relevant to that event. Reconstruction of past experience is never literal. The degree to which R. and a past event do not coincide would depend on variations in personality development (on attitudes, motives, and goals), on the remoteness of the recalled event, and on its significance for the subject in question. The productivity of R. would depend on mnemonic means (see Mnemonics), and also on the conditions under which the episode was remembered.

Reductionism (in psychology)

Reductionism (in psychology), a conscious or unconscious methodological position, leading to reduction of one type of phenomena to a qualitatively different one (for instance, the psychic to the physiological, the biochemical or the biophysical). R. ignores or bluntly rejects the existence of psychological regularities and mechanisms as such, thus depriving psychology of the status of an independent science. Besides, R. interprets psyche as a certain side effect, an epiphenomenon (see Epiphenomenalism). R. disarms psychology in the face of tasks posed thereto by social practice, specifically those that involve the study of the fundamentals underlying the moulding of personality, of its consciousness and behaviour, and is incompatible with dialecticomaterialistic methodology.

Referentiality

Referentiality, dependence of an individual upon other people in the form of selective attitudes thereto when there is a need to somehow assess or explain some object. As a personal trait, R. is a factor of personalisation. As a specific type of relations, R. manifests itself under a need constantly arising in a group to correlate the subject with objects that are essentially meaningful to the latter in connection with his activity. Such objects may be goals, tasks, norms and values of joint activities, objective and subjective difficulties arising therein (see Barriers, Psychological), the individual’s personal qualities, as well as those of other participants in given activities (see Group, Reference). The object of reference relationships may be any group of which the subject in question is a member, or a group to which he refers himself without being its actual member. An actually non- existent individual (some literary hero, imaginary ideal worthy of imitation, ideal notion of the individual about himself, etc.) may also be a reference object. One should distinguish noninternalised R. relationships, when the reference object exists in reality as one that determines (“dictates”) to the individual his behavioural norms, from internalised relationships, when the individual’s behaviour is outwardly not conditioned by any object, and when all reference relationships are removed and “remoulded” by his consciousness and manifest themselves as his own subjective factors. However, in this situation, too, reference relationships would also take place, albeit 264 they would be more complex in form. For other group members, the fact of the individual’s R. is established by referentometry (see Referentometric Method), a special experimental procedure,

Referentometric Method

Referentometric Method, a technique for revealing the referentiality of group members to each respective group member. R.M. includes two procedures. In the preliminary ( auxiliary) one, a questionnaire is used to clarify the view (opinions, assessments, attitudes) of each group member towards a significant object, event, or individual. The second procedure is performed to reveal persons whose position, reflected in the questionnaire, is of greatest interest to other subjects. All this compels the subject to show high selectivity towards those group members whose position is most significant for him at the given moment. An important aspect of R.M. is the deeply motivated behaviour of the subject, preoccupied with the possibility to become acquainted with the view stated by a reference object regarding some significant object. Hence, R.M. allows to reveal the motives of interpersonal choices and preferences in a group. At the same time, the measure of an individual’s referentiality (preference) is, in this case, determined indirectly, via the interest shown by the subject for the position of that individual regarding the significant object. Data obtained by R.M. are processed mathematically, and may be expressed graphically.

Reflection

Reflection, a universal property of matter, essentially the ability of objects to represent with varying degree of adequacy the features, structural characteristics and relationships of other objects. The nature of R. depends on the organisation level of matter, as a result of which reflection qualitatively differs in inorganic and organic nature, in the animal and social domain, in more elementary and highly organised systems. In the organism, R. initially shows in irritability, due to external and internal stimuli, in the form of living matter’s ability to respond to effects by selective reaction corresponding to the source’s specifics. Such prepsychic R. in the course of development of organic matter transforms into sentibility as an ability to possess sensations, viz. primary psychic images of the environment that serve the purpose of orientation therein and regulation of actions adequate to its ecological uniqueness and the organism’s needs. These simplest forms of R. serve as premises for the development of more complex forms, which include both sensory and mental images of reality that allow to represent its space-and-time and causal relationships to impart behaviour an increasingly adaptive (see Adjustment) and active character. R. becomes a leading factor in relation to the organism’s direct reaction to a directly acting irritant. On the human level, owing to the fact that human activity is socially conditioned, R. becomes not only more active, but also qualitatively different. At this level, the selective and purposeful nature of R. is 265 determined by the need to transform nature, to effect joint activities involving the use of tools. In these processes, psychic R. comes out as the production of images not only of sensory, but also of logical thinking (notions, hypotheses, etc.) and creative fantasy, ones, which are objectified in products of culture (including symbolic systems like language). This radically changes the nature of R. causing ideal objects to appear. Adequacy of R. to its source assumes a certain similarity between the material characteristics of that source, the processing of nervous impulses in the brain, on the one hand, and that which is represented in the subject’s psychic formations. Lenin made an exceptionally significant contribution to the teaching that cognition is R. of reality. Hence, the dialectical-materialist theory of R. is called the Leninist theory of R. It opposes various subjective and objective idealistic views on consciousness and serves as a methodological foundation for a scientific study of psychic reality.

Reflex

Reflex, a natural response of an organism, by the nervous system, to an irritant. The reflex principle of brain activity was formulated by the French philosopher Rene Descartes, even though the term R. itself came to be used in science later, following the publication of the works of Thomas Willis, a British neurologist, and those of Georg Prochaska, a Czech physiologist. R’s are commonly classifid into unconditioned and conditioned (see Unconditioned Reflex, Conditioned Reflex).

Reflexion

Reflexion, a process of individual’s self-knowledge of his own mental acts and states. The notion R. originated in philosophy to signify the process of speculation by an individual about the events in his own consciousness. Rene Descartes identified R. with the individual’s ability to concentrate on the content of his own thoughts by abstracting himself from everything bodily. John Locke distinguished sensation from R., interpreting the latter as a specific source of knowledge (inner experience as opposed to outer experience based on evidence provided by the sense organs). This interpretation of R. became the principal axiom of introspective psychology, which resulted in inadequate explanation of actual human ability for selfaccount of experienced facts of human consciousness, for self-analysis of one’s own mental states. In social psychology, R. takes the form of awareness by the acting subject (either individual or collective) of how those mental states are actually perceived and assessed by other individuals or social units. R. is not merely knowledge or understanding by the subject of himself, but also finding out how others know and understand the “reflecting” person or group, their personal features, emotional responses and cognitive concepts. When the content of these ideas is the subject of joint activities, this results in object-reflecting relationships, a specific form of R. A complex R. process involves a minimum 266 of six positions characterising reciprocal reflection of subjects: the subject himself as he is in reality; the subject as he sees himself; the subject as he is seen by another person; and the same three positions as seen by another subject. Thus, R. is a process of double, mirrored reciprocal reflection by individuals of one another, the essence of this reflection being reproduction or reconstruction of one another’s features. In Western social psychology, the tradition of R. research dates back to the works of Theodore Newcomb and Charles Cooley, and is related to experimental study of diads, pairs of individuals involved in interaction processes in artificial, laboratory situations. Soviet researchers (G. M. Andreyeva and others) note that in order to obtain a deeper understanding of R., one should examine it on more complex social groups involved in significant joint activities, not on diads.

Reflexology

Reflexology, a natural-science trend in psychology, developed chiefly in the USSR between 1900 and 1930 in connection with the studies of Vladimir Bekhterev. In following Ivan Sechenov, Bekhterev believed there is no process of thought that not would be shown by specific objective manifestations. In this connection, he studied all reflexes involving the brain ("correlative activity"). Representatives of R. sought to use exclusively objective methods as a "solid point of support" for scientific conclusions. They regarded mental activity in connection with neural processes and used facts from the physiology of higher nervous activity to explain that activity. Having originated in psychology, R. penetrated into pedagogy, psychiatry, sociology, and the study of art. Despite a number of empirical achievements, R. could not go beyond mechanistic interpretation of mental processes as byproducts (see Epi phenomenalism) of behavioural acts. By the late 1920, R. became an object of increasingly strong criticism by Marxist psychologists, consequently many reflexologists realised that it was limited in concept and revised their views.

Regression Analysis (in psychology)

Regression Analysis (in psychology), a method of mathematical statistics that allows studying the dependence of the average magnitude upon the variation of another or several other magnitudes (in the latter case, psychologists apply multiple R.A.). The notion R.A. was introduced by Francis Gallon, who established a definite correlation between the stature of parents and that of their adult children. He noticed that the children of very short parents were somewhat taller than the latter, while those of tall parents shorter, and he termed this regularity regression. R.A. is used chiefly in empiric psychological studies to assess the influence of, say, intellectual giftedness on good resuls in studies or of motives on behaviour; to construct psychological tests; and so on.

Regression of Behaviour

Regression of Behaviour, a form of individual defence response in frustration. In this case, the individual would substitute a meaningful complex task, 267 whose solution is difficult in a given situation, for an easier one. This would impoverish the repertory of behavioural acts performed by the individual, since the latter would use simpler or more habitual stereotypes (Paul Fraisse). Unlike substitution (Kurt Lewin), displacement, generalisation (Joseph Nuttin), and other forms of overcoming excess emotional tension characterised by stability of purposeful activity and search for new ways to actualise that activity, R. of B. is characterised by changes in motivations and needs.

Regressive (inner) Inhibition

Regressive (inner) Inhibition, see Inhibition Proactive.

Reinforcement (in teaching on higher nervous activity)

Reinforcement (in teaching on higher nervous activity), unconditioned irritant causing a biologically meaningful reaction which, on combining with its precursory indifferent stimulus, develops a classical conditioned reflex. R. that harms the body (e.g. an electric shock) is termed negative (punishment). R. in the form of food is called positive (reward). At instrument training (to develop some locomotor reaction), the function of negative R. may be fulfilled by cancellation of a reward, while cancellation of punishment may turn into a positive R.

Relaxation

Relaxation, a state of quiescence arising in an individual following the removal of tension after intense emotional experience or physical effort. R. may be involuntary (when going to sleep) and voluntary, when a person takes a quiet posture, imagines states normally corresponding to quiescence, or relaxes muscles involved in various types of activity (see Autogenic Training). An effective method for teaching R. would be to establish a feedback by means of devices which display the level of bioelectrical activity to make it accessible to perception by the subject. R. is an auxiliary technique for athlete training, autogenic training, logopedics, and so on.

Reliability of a Test

Reliability of a Test, a criterion of test quality (see Testing) relating to accuracy of psychological measurements. The higher the R. of T., the relatively more free it would be of measurement errors. Some regard R. of T. as stability of results in repeated testing. Others regard it as a manifestation of the degree of equivalence of two (parallel) tests similar in form and purpose. The definition of R. of T. may also be connected with the notion of the test’s internal consistency. This is manifest in the separation of a test into parts with subsequent comparison of the results. R. of T. is also determined by the methods of dispersion and factor analysis.

Reminiscence (in psychology)

Reminiscence (in psychology), fuller and more accurate recall of information retained in the memory as compared with that initially retained (memorised). R. may be observed in memorising of any verbal and visual material, and also in securing sensory-motor habits. R. manifests itself particularly often in work with large volumes of logically or objectively associated information affecting 268 a person emotionally. R. is more pronounced in childhood. A number of hypotheses have been suggested to explain R. According to one of them, tiredness during memorising of some material leads to impairment of its direct recall. Delay would permit to restore optimal functional state to thereby improve reproduction. Another hypothesis is based on the assumed existence of processes of concealed repetition of the material, one that continues after the obvious cessation of memorising, which leads to an improved reproduction following the delay. R. may also be explained by the fact that, following the delay, interference by information stored in the memory decreases. So far, none of these hypotheses can claim to exhaustively explain all cases of R.

Repetition

Repetition, reproduction of mastered knowledge and actions designed to facilitate memorising. In general psychology, R. is regarded primarily in connection with memory research. R. is studied as a means for establishing new semantic links, revealing new correlations in an object, and effecting various methods of an individual’s activity. R. is also designed to improve actions within different dimensions. Specially selected exercises and R. of some action in changing conditions allow R. to become generalised and conscious. Frequent R. under similar conditions leads to automatism.

Representations

Representations, images of objects, scenes and events that arise on the basis of their recollection or productive imagination. Unlike perceptions, R. may be generalised. Whereas perceptions relate only to the present, R. belong to the past and possible future. R. differ from perceptions in that they are considerably less clear. Nevertheless, their sensuous nature allows to classify them by modality (visual, acoustic, olfactory, tactile, and other R. Reliance on the R. of well-familiar scenes or places serves as a most effective mnemonic technique (see Mnemonics). Transformation of R. play an important role in solving mental problems, especially those which require new “vision” of the situation. In characterising the dialectical relations of R. and thought, Lenin wrote: "Is sensuous representation closer to reality than thought? Both yes and no. Sensuous representation cannot apprehend movement as a whole, it cannot, for example, apprehend movement with a speed of 300,000 km per second, but thought does and must apprehend it." (V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 38, p. 227).

Repression

Repression, a form of "psychological defence" (see Defence, Psychological) which is a process whereby an individual “expels” from his consciousness thoughts, recollections, and emotional experience unacceptable to him, and transfers them to the sphere of the unconscious. Nonetheless R. continues to influence his behaviour, which is felt in the form of anxiety, fear, etc. The term "R." was introduced by Sigmund Freud (see Psychoanalysis; Freudianism).

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Reproduction

Reproduction, a mental action accessible to observation; one that involves restoration and reconstruction of the actualised content in certain sign form (see Actualisation). Unlike recognition, R. is achieved without the repeated perception of a stimulus and may show in both voluntary and involuntary forms. Voluntary R. is induced by a reproductive task posed either by the subject himself, or by other people. Like recognition, R. is used as a technique for determining the efficacy of memorising. The number of R. errors decreases when R. is trained and accompanied by high motivation. R. efficiency depends on the method used: the more the R. situation corresponds to the memorisation situation, the better is R. Involuntary R. is observed in situations lacking intentionally set R. tasks, and occurs under the influence of ideas, thoughts and feelings evoked either by perception of a given object or situation, or by activities performed at a given moment (reading a book, watching a motion picture, etc.).

Research Programme of a Scientific Collective (socio-psychological aspect)

Research Programme of a Scientific Collective (socio-psychological aspect), a basic concept in socio-psychological study of a research collective (see Collective, Scientific; Programme-role Theory of a Scientific Collective). R.P. of S.C. involves a system of tasks to be solved by a scientific collective, and also methods to be used to this end, and consists of three aspects, viz., object-logical, scientific-social, and personal-psychological. R.P. of S.C. develops in an objective research situation arising in the course of development of science and in connection with society’s needs. It includes the following concrete features: pre- planned future result of research; heuristic techniques for attaining that result; the sequence of using those techniques; and description of available, reserve, permissible and prohibited ways for achieving the goal. An accepted R.P. of S.C. makes it possible to organise the work of researchers and control group processes in the collective, orienting it to attaining the goals of the programme. The question of forming research programmes is a central issue for the social psychology of a research collective and for scientific research in general. The cohesiveness and efficiency of a research collective would depend on the quality of R.P. of S.C. R.P. of S.C. is a major requisite for developing intracollective relations by ensuring actual “programme-oriented” unity of the research collective.

Resoluteness

Resoluteness, ability to independently take and steadfastly implement responsible decisions. R. particularly manifests itself in complex situations, when an act entails certain risk and the need to choose from several options. R. also signifies the ability to boldly take responsibility for the decision made, to perform timely actions, and to quickly execute that decision. Resolute actions would be morally justified depending on their social import.

Respondent

Respondent, the subject of a sociopsychological study who is asked 270 questions. Depending on the nature of the study, R. appears as the testee, client, informant, patient, or simply partner in a conversation.

Responsibility

Responsibility, control over a subject’s activity from the viewpoint of accepted norms and rules exercised in many forms. External forms of control, which ensure the subject’s R. ( accounts, punishment, etc.) for the results of his activity, are distinguished from internal forms of self-control, (e.g. sense of R., sense of duty). Personal R. before society is characterised by conscious obeyance to moral principles and legal norms that express some social need. As a personal trait, R. forms in the course of joint activities as a result of interiorisation of social values, norms, and regulations. Works by Soviet psychologists emphasise that the level of group development and group cohesion, the affinity of value orientations and emotional identification play an important role in causing a person to take R. for success or failure in joint activities. Soviet psychologists also claim that it is possible to exert a purposeful psycho-pedagogical influence on the forming in members of work collectives of self-critical and adequate assessments of the degree of their personal R. for the outcome of their common work.

Retention

Retention, a memory phase characterising long-term storage of perceived information in a hidden state. R. may be assessed only by observing other mnemonic processes that presuppose R., such as reproduction, recognition, and repetition. The power of R. essentially depends on the organisation of mnemonic means (see Mnemonics) and on measures that prevent forgetting (see Memorising; Repetition). R. may be active and passive. In active R., the retained data is subjected to inner transformations, ranging from simple cyclic repetition to inclusion in new semantic associations, which sharply increase the likelihood of subsequent reproduction. In passive R. researchers fail to reveal such active transformations.

Rigidity (in psychology)

Rigidity (in psychology), difficulty (up to total inability) to change the programme of activity charted by the subject in conditions that objectively require its restructuring. Psychologists distinguish cognitive, affective and motivational R. Cognitive R. manifests itself in a difficulty to restructure perception and ideas in a changed situation. Affective R. shows in inertness of affective (emotional) responses to changing objects of emotions. Motivational R. is seen in stiff restructuring of the system of motives in circumstances that require the subject to be flexible and change his behaviour. The level of the subject’s R. would depend on how his personal traits interact with the environment, including on the complexity of the task facing him, its attraction for him, the danger involved, the monotony of stimulation, etc.

Risk

Risk, a situational characteristic of activity involving an indeterminate 271 outcome and possible unfavourable consequences in case of failure. In psychology, the following three basic correlated definitions correspond to the term "R.": (1) the measure of anticipated failure determined by combined probability of failure and degree of possible unfavourable consequences; (2) an action which somehow threatens the individual with failure (loss, injury, damage). Experimentally, psychologists distinguish motivated R. reckoned on situational advantages in some field of activity, and unmotivated R. (see Activeness). Besides, proceeding from the correlation between the anticipated gain and loss in implementing a given action, distinction should be made between justified and unjustified R.; (3) a choice between two possible ways of action, one less attractive but more reliable, and the other more attractive but less reliable (with problematic outcome involving possible unfavourable consequences). In this case psychologists traditionally distinguish two classes of situations, in which (a) success and failure are assessed using a specific achievement scale ( situation of the "level of aspirations" type; (b) failure entails punishment ( physical threat, pain, or social sanctions). There is an important distinction between situations in which the outcome would depend on chance (chance situations) and those in which it would depend on the individual’s abilities (situations of skill). It has been revealed that, other conditions being equal, people show a much higher R. level in situations involving skill, rather than chance, i.e. when a person believes something depends essentially on himself. In psychology, the notion "R." manifests itself chiefly in acceptance of R., i.e. when the individual prefers a hazardous option to a safe one. Researchers show interest for shifts towards higher or lower R. levels in group discussions of some activity (see Risky Shift).

Risky Shift

Risky Shift, increasingly risky group and individual decisions following a group discussion as compared to those initially taken by members of the same group (see Group Decision-Making; Group Polarisation). R.S. was repeatedly demonstrated in various experimental situations. There are three types of experimental procedures for examining R.S.: (1) comparison of initial individual decisions with coordinated group decision; (2) comparison of initial individual decisions with individual decisions after a coordinated group decision has been taken; (3) comparison of initial individual decisions following a group discussion, without compulsory coordination with postdiscussion individual decisions. Several hypotheses have been suggested to explain R.S. The most popular one holds that each group member revises his decision in the course of discussion so as to bring it nearer to the group norm.

Role (in social psychology)

Role (in social psychology), a social function of personality; human behaviour corresponding to accepted norms, depending on people’s status or position in society and in a given system of interpersonal relations. The notion 272 “R." was introduced into social psychology by George Mead (see Interactionism). Performing a R. by a person has a specific personal tinge which depends primarily on his knowledge and ability to be in that R., on its importance to him, and on his desire to meet the expectations of people surrounding him. The range and number of R’s would depend on the multiformity of social group, types of activities and relationships involving the individual, and his needs and interests. Distinction should be made between social R’s determined by the individual’s status in a given system of objective social relationships ( vocational, socio-demographic, and other R’s) and interpersonal R’s depending on the individual’s status within a given system of interpersonal relations ( leader, outcast, etc.). Psychologists also distinguish active R’s, performed at a given moment, from latent R’s that are not observable in a given situation. Besides, they distinguish institutionalised (official, conventional) R’s connected with formal requirements of some organisation of which the individual in question is a member, from spontaneous R’s connected with spontaneously arising relationships and forms of activity. Western sociology and psychology largely use various individual R. theories whose general methodological shortcoming is that they ignore objective historical and social conditions which in the final account determine social demands and expectations involved in R. behaviour. In those theories, the individual appears as a set of odd role masks which determine his outward behaviour, irrespective of his inner world, and ignore the uniqueness of personality, its active nature and integrity.

Rumours

Rumours, a specific type of interpersonal communication (2), in the course of which a story, to some extent reflecting certain truthful and untruthful events, becomes familiar to a large number of different people. In addition to the given event, R. also reflect public opinion and mood, the more common social stereotypes and attitudes of the audience; and the informational situation in the region. R. are often the source of false, distorted information. They are commonly classified by two parameters:
(1) expressiveness, i.e. emotional states that find expression in the R. content and corresponding types of emotional responses, such as desired R., scarecrow R., and aggressive R.;
(2) informativeness, i. e. the degree of authenticity of the story, involving R. which range from totally false to relatively truthful ones. The main factor facilitating R. circulation caused by unsatisfied interest is an information vacuum filled either spontaneously or through the efforts of hostile propaganda. Knowledge of the causes and principles underlying the spread of R. helps organise informational policy so as to reduce to a minimum the likelihood of R. and, in case they do arise, to effectively counteract them.