Reality Distortion Research Articles

DIALOGUE IN DEEP KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUBJECT'S PSYCHE

The article presents the results of the functioning of groups of active socio-psychological cognition, which is based on the dialogic interaction of the psychologist with the respondent. Dialogue is interconnected with the mechanism of participation (complicity), which is effective both for understanding the essence of psychoimages and the relationships between them. Objectification is a necessary prerequisite for ensuring the integrity of cognition of the subject's psyche, taking into account both the language of the conscious (word) and the language of the unconscious (objectified means of self-presentation). The article reveals the methodological prerequisites for conducting the psychoanalytic process (with the aim of harmonizing the conscious and unconscious factors of the psyche) in its diagnostic and corrective essence of obedience to the law: «positive disintegration of the psyche (weakening of destructive formations of the psyche) and its secondary integration on a more realistic basis». The ASPC method expands the subject's adaptability reserves thanks to self-knowledge through the symbols of the objective world. In-depth knowledge contributes to the resolution of the internal stabilized contradiction of the psyche, which is a personal problem. The dialogic interaction of the psychologist with the respondent in the «P ↔ P» system is subject to the methodology of in-depth knowledge of the psyche, in which the mechanisms of positive disintegration of the psyche and its secondary integration at a higher level of the subject's mental development play a leading role. The latter explains the dual task of actualizing mental processes by the ASPC method: on the one hand, the spontaneity of the behavior of the participants of in-depth knowledge, and on the other hand, the continuity of dialogic interaction between the psychologist and the respondent, which contributes to the weakening of distortions of socio-perceptual reality. The material of the article is based on the principle of determinism: nothing happens «just like that" in the psyche; the dialogic interaction of the psychologist with the respondent is aimed at «deciphering» the visualized self-presenters, with the aim of actualizing the processes of psychocorrection, which contributes to the optimization of the functioning of the psyche. The purpose of the article is to learn about the fixations of the psyche, which dominate the initiatives of the conscious in terms of energy activity. Dialogue in deep learning is the central chain that connects the visualized means of self-presentation of ASPC participants with their verbal interpretations in dialogue. The results of future psychologists undergoing the diagnostic and corrective process in ASPC groups are related to their knowledge of the deep origins of the internal contradictions of the human psyche, which are manifested in different orientations of the «logic of the conscious» and the «logic of the unconscious». Recognizing and helping the subject solve the personal problems of the psyche revealed in ASPC requires the awakening of the instinct of self-preservation, which strengthens the adaptability of future psychologists to the realities of life and expands their opportunities for personal and professional self-realization. Conclusion. Our research in ASPC groups proved the ability of the psyche to recode into visualized means by preserving informational equivalents; the prospects for further optimization of deep cognition in its diagnostic and corrective parameters are outlined, which is implemented through the psychologist's dialogue with the respondent. Our introduction of the fundamental principle of «visualized self-presentation of the psyche by the participants of the ASPC » creates objective prerequisites for dialogic interaction between the psychologist and the respondent, which is revealed in the article.

Procatalepsis: Inter-Institutional Dialogue in Public Law – A Deaf Dialogue or a Legal and Efficient Communication? Case Study

Mutual respect and availability for dialogue are character traits that are so necessary nowadays, since as a rule the contemporary human being frequently manifests as a selfish being, focused only on personal well-being, on the cult of personality or on the distortion of reality, intolerant or indifferent to the sufferings of those who do not share his value system, without knowing the definition of empathy.
 
 The pending study aims to highlight the quality of the institutional dialogue, namely the manner in which a court decision is respected by a territorial administrative authority and the mayor, as well as to highlight the fact that in some cases, unfortunately, with the evasion of legal norms, some court decisions pronounced by the administrative litigation courts are framed, like a true work of art, a painting, not being enforced.
 
 The title chosen for the study conjures an exercise in rhetoric, as "procatalepsis" represents a figure of speech in which the speaker raises an objection to his own argument and then immediately responds. By doing so, he hopes to strengthen his argument by addressing possible counterarguments before the audience can raise them. The etymology of the word reveals that it comes from the ancient Greek: προ- (pro-, "before") + κατάληψις (katálēpsis, "act of catching"), via the Latin "procatalepsis", which implies "anticipation and response to an objection".

SMM promotion of tourism

Object: The purpose of this work is to identify the features of SMM tools and how to use them to promote tourism services in modern conditions.Methods: This study includes an analysis of the promotion of a number of travel companies through social media tools.Results: The article discusses SMM tools and methods of their application for the promotion of tourist services in modern conditions. In the age of globalization of the information space, when the Internet has covered almost all spheres of activity, tourism has received a new opportunity to promote its product. After all, today the Internet is not only a form of communication, but also an indispensable tool for the delivery and maintenance of information, business development. Social networks play a special role, thanks to which a new market is developing with all the necessary technological and social conditions. The tools utilized by social networks, along with their operational mechanisms, enable a specific tourism company to distinguish itself from the sea of competitors. This results in lowered expenses for online advertising, heightened customer loyalty, and the attraction of fresh clientele. In a global context, social networks can become a tool for creating a positive image of the country, redistributing tourist flows, and forming an information base for tourists.Conclusions: Despite all the positive aspects of social networks, the study identified significant problems that negatively affect the development of tourism. These factors include: fraud, distortion of reality, the authority of the opinion of media personalities, uneven coverage of age groups of tourists. These and possible other problems today require special attention and require a set of measures for advertising and promotion in social media.

Pragmatic Architectonics of Stand-Up Comedy: Actor’s Image, Addressee’s Factor, Interactivity

Stand-up comedy is interpreted in the study as a discourse pattern, perfect for the “cynical” opposition of all aspects of real eventfulness. Fixing the relevant areas of implicit (usually socially labeled) knowledge, not always covered by traditional institutional sources, bringing this knowledge to the target audience are important discourse functions performed by comedians in their appropriate roles. It is established that the actor puts on the mask of an ordinary representative of society, against the background of a comic distortion of reality, he voices “marginal” metaphorical meanings that form the current everyday routine, expressing anger and despair about vicious and weak manifestations inherent in human nature. The comedy genre allows performers to demonstrate a personal view of the world order, to realize their place in the world around them. It is concluded that these possibilities become the central element of the identity of the actor-comedian, determine the parameters of who he objectively is, fix his finding between the internal state and the external manner of behavior that can be recognized by the audience. The comedian is like a creative “persona”, a psychological entity with special characteristics that can be publicly noticed, recognized and used by representatives of a certain culture as a whole. The scenarios generated by the comedian are investigated, which can be traditional or situational (specific to the current communication environment). Their switching in the actor’s discourse determines the nature of the relationship with the audience from complete collusion to confrontation with it.The humorous potential of the actor’s judgments programs a sudden cognitive shift in the audience’s consciousness, which is generated by the discrepancy between perceived meanings and generally accepted mental models of explication of meanings from linguistic units, the effect of deceived expectations. The viewer experiences an unexpected change of psychological state due to spontaneous changes in the interpretation of individual words, phrases or the actor’s narrative as a whole. At the same time, the actor’s jokes do not always correspond to the comedy genre, as a rule, they acquire a deeply tragic content.

Transformative effect of intimate partner violence against women based on sociocultural factors trapping women in a violent relationship

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the most frequent type of violence experienced by women, with devastating consequences for their physical and mental health. Due to exposure of women to the violence, their perceptions and interpretations of the situation may be distorted, making it difficult to leave the violent relationship. Exploring the obstacles that women must confront to verbalize their situation or ask for help is critical in preventing IPV against women (IPVAW). For this purpose, two studies were implemented: Study 1 included a focus group of seven victims of IPVAW and Study 2 included 550 women (n = 258 suffering IPVAW and n = 292 not suffering IPVAW). In Study 1, women reported that perceptions (e.g., minimization of the situation), interpretations (e.g., justifying the aggressor), and feelings (e.g., guilt) were the main obstacles in leaving a violent relationship. Study 2 revealed that participants who suffered IPVAW obtained lower scores in perceived severity, and attribution of responsibility to the aggressor, as well as higher scores in feelings of embarrassment and guilt than those who had not suffered IPVAW. No significant differences were found in risk assessed and feelings of fear. These findings highlight the serious consequences of exposure to IPVAW, requiring the implementation of preventive programs to address the distortion of reality due to the aggressor’s manipulation, as well as the influence of sociocultural factors on the construction of women’s roles in relationships.

Cognitive insight and schizotypy in non-clinical adolescents

Cognitive insight is a metacognitive construct that has been shown to be useful in detecting vulnerability to schizophrenia spectrum disorders and, in particular to schizotypy. The main purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between the cognitive insight and schizotypy in a sample of non-clinical adolescents, and to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the cognitive insight in differentiating vulnerability to schizotypy. Participants were non-clinical adolescents selected by cluster sampling (school), with random group-class selection. The Cognitive Insight Scale and the Esquizo-Q-A were used. Results: We found a different cognitive insight profile from that found in previous studies, with a lower score in self-reflection and a higher score in self-certainty. Self-reflection and the composite index would allow us to classify participants with risk scores in distortion of reality and interpersonal disorganization. The cognitive insight would be a useful construct for detecting vulnerability to schizotypy in non-clinical adolescents and would allow the design of effective interventions.

Elsewhere like here: heterotopias in Han Song’s science fiction

This article focuses on the Chinese science fiction writer Han Song who often uses heterotopias in his work. I will use this concept to illustrate how Han Song uses these ‘other places’ for the emplotment of his stories to better reflect on the society and epoch described in his works. Indeed, Han Song often chooses the symbols of modernity put forward by the Chinese government as heterotopias and then distorts them to show the dark side of the government’s ideals, hence countering the official discourse. To do so Han Song has a particular way of emploting these heterotopias: he starts his stories right in the middle of reality before leading the reader towards a succession of exponential distortions of reality, while punctuating his text with references to Chinese history and current events, Han Song’s heterotopias hence encompassing many aspects of Chinese past and present society.

Fake news as a distortion of media reality: tell-truth strategy in the post-truth era

The article deals with fake news which has been considered one of the greatest threats to information security. The expansion of digital technologies and the development of communication networks have contributed to the spreading of misinformation. In particular, the emergence of different sources of information on the Internet, the growing polarization of opinions in the political and socio-economic dimensions, the devaluation of the fact, and the widespread fake news on the Internet (e.g., social media) form the question of revision of the process of collecting, verifying presenting information, methods, and technologies for verifying facts, including methods for countering fake news. Although this issue has been widely investigated in academic discourse, there are still controversial arguments regarding which elements should form a tell-truth strategy. This paper focuses on recent research that reflects trends and patterns in this field and on the author’s empirical survey - interviews with university professors and media experts (N=6), journalists (N=6), and students (N=14) in Russia. In this study, the author describes the key characteristics of fake news and the elements of this tell-truth strategy. It is intended that this paper focuses on both professional journalists and professors who may use the results of this investigation in such courses as political science, sociology, philosophy, and journalism.

Computer-aided drug design against schizophrenia by targeting SP4

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a mental disorder and affects ~1% of the worldwide population. It is considered a chronic and severe condition that impacts the thoughts, emotions, and behavior, of the patient often leading to a distortion of reality. Numerous computational techniques such as threading technique, homology modeling technique, and ab initio technique were applied for 3D structure prediction of the selected SZ protein SP4. The 3D predicted structures of SP4 were further evaluated and validated by utilizing Anolea, ProCheck, and Errat evaluation tools. Interestingly, it was observed that the overall quality factor of the selected structure was 77.542%. The predicted structure of SP4 showed 3.97% residues in the outlier region of Ramachandran plot while 96.03% in the allowed and the favored region of the evaluated plot. The study of molecular docking analyses was done to identify the compounds against SZ by targeting SP4. Moreover, the scrutinized compounds showed the least binding energy of -10.1 Kcal/mol. The highest binding affinity was observed among the binding residues (Leu-199, Ala-275, Gly-262, Leu-198, Thr-333, Ser-334, Leu-339, Ala-206, Leu-208, Gly-281, Ile-207, Val-283, Pro-286, and Ala-287). The scrutinized molecules from the selected library may have the ability to regulate the activity of SZ by targeting SP4. The scrutinized molecules can behave as a potential compound and the 3D predicted structure of SP4 is reliable for structural insights and functional analyses.

Detailed review of development and study of martial arts by scientists: How does the truth differ from a television image

The research relevance is determined by the frequent distortion of reality in the modern world, especially on television, where an alternative reality is created, which helps convey the image to the largest possible audience. The image revealed is purposefully formed to affect the emotional and psychological state of the audience. In films, the conveyance of certain value patterns can often be seen, which reflects the educational functions of sports and martial arts, depicting socially approved patterns of behaviour. The study aims to review the development and study of martial arts on television by scientists. The primary research methods are comparative analysis, descriptive analysis, classification, induction and deduction, and generalisation of approaches, which were used to describe and highlight the main problems of reality and television images in martial arts. Aspects of the study of martial arts by scholars are disclosed in the article; the specifics and peculiarities of the image of athletes on television are analysed; the importance of image for athletes is described. A detailed analysis of the literature was conducted, and the content, characteristics and features of this phenomenon were clarified; audiovisual, program and plot methods of demonstrating a professional image on television have been found; the possibilities of using the image of athletes in advertising are shown; the tendencies of influence of sports programs on human psychology, idealisation of life and appearance are characterised. The study materials represent practical and theoretical value for athletes, students of physical disciplines and contestants in combat competitions, who are trying to achieve the ideal and set an example for the younger generations. The information is valuable for specialists in the field of media influence on a person and his psychology, able to explain in more detail the process of perceiving an image from television

Associations between acceptance of the implausible bias, theory of mind and delusions in first-episode psychosis patients; A longitudinal study.

Multiple different cognitive biases, among them the liberal acceptance (LA) bias, have been suggested to contribute to reality distortion in psychotic disorders. Earlier studies have been cross-sectional and considered a limited set of cognitive correlates of psychosis, thus the relationship between LA bias and psychosis remains poorly known. We studied a similar bias (acceptance of the implausible (AOI)) in 62 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and 62 control subjects, who watched movie scenes with varying degrees of realism and were asked to evaluate the probability of these events occurring in real life. We assessed theory of mind (ToM) performance using the Hinting task and delusion severity using Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale item 11. We correlated the magnitude of AOI with the severity of delusions and performance in the ToM task. Furthermore, we used 1-year follow-up data from 40 FEP patients and 40 control subjects to disentangle state vs trait-like characteristics of AOI. At baseline FEP patients expressed more AOI than control subjects, and the magnitude of AOI correlated positively with the severity of delusions and negatively with ToM performance. At the one-year follow-up, when most patients were in remission, patients still displayed increased AOI, which no longer correlated with delusions. These findings support the notion that the AOI bias could represent a trait rather than a state feature and support further studies to test the hypothesis that it could be one of the causal factors of psychotic disorders, possibly associated with ToM.

Mapping Psychosis Risk States onto the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology Using Hierarchical Symptom Dimensions.

Clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) is a transdiagnostic risk state. However, it is unclear how risk states such as CHR fit within broad transdiagnostic models such as the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP). In this study, a hierarchical dimensional symptom structure was defined by unfolding factor analysis of self-report data from 3,460 young adults (mage=20.3). A subsample (n=436) completed clinical interviews, 85 of whom met CHR criteria. Regression models examined relationships between symptom dimensions, CHR status, and clinician-rated symptoms. CHR status was best explained by a reality distortion dimension, with contributions from internalizing dimensions. Positive and negative attenuated psychotic symptoms were best explained by multiple psychotic and nonpsychotic symptom dimensions including reality distortion, distress, fear, detachment, and mania. Attenuated psychotic symptoms are a complex presenting problem warranting comprehensive assessment. HiTOP can provide both diagnostic precision and broad transdiagnostic coverage, making it a valuable resource for use with at-risk individuals.

What does it mean to be ‘porn literate’: perspectives of young people, parents and teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Porn literacy education is a pedagogical strategy responding to youth engagement with pornography through digital media. The approach is intended to increase young people’s knowledge and awareness regarding the portrayal of sexuality in Internet pornography. However, what being ‘porn literate’ entails, and what a porn literacy education curricula should therefore include, is not a settled matter. Recognising the importance of end-user perspectives, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents, teachers and young people in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and analysed via critical, constructionist thematic analysis. Participants drew on a developmentalist discourse and a discourse of harm to construct porn literacy education as a way to inoculate young people against harmful effects, distortions of reality, and unhealthy messages. In addition to this dominant construction of porn literacy education, we identified talk that to some extent resisted these dominant discourses. Building on these instances of resistance, and asset-based constructions of youth based on their agency and capability, we point to an ethical sexual citizenship pedagogy as an alternative approach to porn literacy education.

Using dimensionality-reduction techniques to understand the organization of psychotic symptoms in persistent psychotic illness and first episode psychosis

Psychotic disorders are highly heterogeneous. Understanding relationships between symptoms will be relevant to their underlying pathophysiology. We apply dimensionality-reduction methods across two unique samples to characterize the patterns of symptom organization. We analyzed publicly-available data from 153 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (fBIRN Data Repository and the Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics), as well as 636 first-episode psychosis (FEP) participants from the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis (PEPP-Montreal). In all participants, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were collected. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) combined with cluster analysis was applied to SAPS and SANS scores across these two groups of participants. MDS revealed relationships between items of SAPS and SANS. Our application of cluster analysis to these results identified: 1 cluster of disorganization symptoms, 2 clusters of hallucinations/delusions, and 2 SANS clusters (asocial and apathy, speech and affect). Those reality distortion items which were furthest from auditory hallucinations had very weak to no relationship with hallucination severity. Despite being at an earlier stage of illness, symptoms in FEP presentations were similarly organized. While hallucinations and delusions commonly co-occur, we found that their specific themes and content sometimes travel together and sometimes do not. This has important implications, not only for treatment, but also for research—particularly efforts to understand the neurocomputational and pathophysiological mechanism underlying delusions and hallucinations.

It’s not in the bottle: research, ethics & psychotherapy

Today, professions and disciplines of all kinds fall over themselves to present their claims as being ‘evidence-based’ in order to garner for themselves the kudos of being a positivist science. In this paperI will critique attempts made by the ‘psy’ disciplines’ (psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy) to use positivism to enter the citadel of science. Amongst other things, I will argue that their efforts have resulted in the corruption and distortion of the principles of (positivist) science. I will argue that positivist methodologies are unable, even in principle, to capture the intricacies of human exchange; in lieu of positivism, notions of emergence and complex responsive processes are more appropriate. Additionally, the argument will also raise questions about the idea of science itself, and claim that much of what passes for science in this territory is a distortion of reality rather than a description of it.

Investigating the effect of emotion-oriented couple counseling on the threatened self-image of couples

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of emotion-oriented couple counseling on threatened self-image. Method: The method of this research was semi-experimental and pre-test-post-test type with a control group. The statistical population of this research included couples who referred to the family culture center and counseling centers in Isfahan city. To select the desired sample, 40 couples (80 people) were selected as volunteers and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (20 couples in the experimental group and 20 couples in the control group). The research tool was the threatened self-image from the NI-90 questionnaire. The independent variable was emotion-oriented couple counseling, which was applied to the experimental group in 10 sessions. Results: The results of covariance analysis showed that emotion-oriented couple counseling had an effect on the threatened self-image, but it had no effect on the dimensions of hope, distortion of reality, departure to a feeling of harmony, and the threatened self variable. Conclusion: it can be concluded that emotion-oriented couple counseling reduces the self-threatening image of couples.

КОГНИТИВНАЯ КАРТИНА МИРА В ИДЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ РАКУРСЕ СТАТЕЙ ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКОГО СЛОВАРЯ (на материале первого издания энциклопедии «Русский язык»)

The authors analyze the conceptual apparatus of the first edition of the encyclopedia “The Russian language” in cognitive aspect. The aim of the work is to reveal the role of ideology in the formation of the official portrait of linguistic science in the 1970s and to determine its influence on presentation and description of scientific terms. The study uses the method of contextual analysis, logical-semantic, historical-linguistic, cognitive modeling methods. The most important articles-ideologems from the point of view of the cognitive world view are considered: “History of the Russian literary language”, “Culture of language”, “Journalistic style”, “Russian language”, “Language and society”, etc. They allow to recreate the metacultural connections of a specific historical time and to identify ways of forming an ideologized context. The study showed that the transformation of the cognitive world view in Soviet science can be carried out without nominatively expressed references to ideological attitudes. And, conversely, not every reference to ideological formulas distorts the scientific model of reality. The results obtained can be used in the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries of terminological units and sociolinguistic dictionaries, in studying cognitive problems of modern scientific discourse. The authors come to the conclusion that the articles of the encyclopedic dictionary form a specific model of ideas about the Russian language, based on the evaluativeness of linguistic facts, the opposition of ideas and the deliberate distortion of reality in the direction of manipulation of concepts.

DIGITAL SPACE AND POLITICAL STABILITY OF RUSSIA

Today digital space is one of the most significant social niches. The unique value-behavioral patterns related to basic spheres of social life, including political-administrative field, are formed within it. On the one hand, digital space requires more time from many modern people, on the other hand, the latter declare their needs in new ways, creating social request and present-day problem field. As a result, misunderstanding and lack of precision in understanding such requests by authorities can lead to formation of vacuum in the informational picture of the world, which other political actors, as a rule, pretend to fill, including those who pursue destructive goals. All that radically changes requirements not only for the level of interaction and dialogue between authorities and society but also for the principles of the interaction. Ignoring the mentioned state of affairs can involve risks of political stability and safety of states. The given article is aimed at identifying peculiarities of political-administrative digital space in Russia and defining possible preventive works for exclusion and neutralization of this kind of threats. According to the central conclusion of the article, the key step in this direction should be development of channels and mechanisms of policy feedback in the digital space allowing authorities to understand social requests and problem field of society timely and as accurately as possible and prevent the political picture of the world from distortion of social-political reality. All this should contribute to the formation of the so-called “social immunity”, which is extremely necessary for maintain political stability in the current conditions.

ИДЕОЛОГИЈА ИЗМЕЂУ ОМОГУЋАВАЊА И НЕГАЦИЈЕ ПОЛИТИКЕ

Although our first association with the term “ideology” today is dogmatic thinking and political manipulation, Tracy intended first to associate scientific rigor and analytical clarity with this term. Relying, like other French Enlightenment philosophers, on Locke’s teaching about ideas, Tracy developed the concept of ideology in the context of his analytical methodology, which aimed to reduce complex ideas to essential elements. Therefore, the original meaning of the new term “ideology” should be understood much simpler and more elementarily - as “the science of ideas”. In their work The German Ideology, Marx and Engels define this term as a deliberate distortion of material reality that serves the ruling classes as a convenient cover for economic exploitation and political oppression. Steger, one of the most influential contemporary theorists of ideology, believes that we would be unfair to ideology and its historical manifestations if we limited them only to harmful aspects. Therefore, he unequivocally points out that ideology has its apparent “moral influence on human behavior”, that it is, therefore, helpful in creating “bonds of solidarity” in human communities, and that in this sense, it has a prominent “integrative role in ensuring social stability”. Analyzing the evolution of concepts within different ideologies, Freeden notes that an ideology’s relative “political success” depends on its ability to impose on others the belief that its definitions of concepts are consistently correct. This is precisely what leads to a kind of “competition in defining concepts”, in which each ideology tries to continuously “decontest” its concepts. We argue that the essence of ideology should be sought between, on the one hand, its necessity in the constitution of political life and, on the other hand, the possible abolition of politics if the tendency of ideology toward decontestation is not adequately controlled. Keywords: ideology, science of ideas, decontestation, politics, abolition, manipulation

The Invention of the Maghreb: Between Africa and the Middle East

The Invention of the Maghreb: Between Africa and the Middle East