Free Associative Experiment Research Articles

A free-associative experiment for identifying the factors for the personal development of youth in the context of professional education

In the conditions of rapid changes taking place in the socio-economic life of Kazakhstan, much attention is paid to young people who are gradually taking active positions in the economic, political, and cultural spheres. Young people are aimed at developing and promoting their initiatives, mainly starting to implement them during the professional training.  In these conditions, the socio-cultural potential of the youth acts as a combination of qualities and capabilities of the younger generation, formed under the influence of certain factors and a professionally oriented educational environment. From this perspective, we should determine these factors in accordance with the realities of modern times and youth's point of view. The purpose of the research was to determine the structure of significant indicators for youth’s socio-cultural potential development in the context of professional education via the free-associative method. It was considered how the different categories of respondents react to the incentive words and phrases such as "youth", "youth's socio-cultural potential", "socio-cultural environment", and "cross-cultural interaction".  Interpretation of the obtained results allows us to divide associations based on keywords and the repeatability sums values of the mentions into groups that make up the semantic core for each definition. As a consequence, twenty cognitive paradigmatic signs with a positive connotation were identified. The scientific value and novelty of the work arrows in proving the possibility of using the free-associative method for the definition of the logical components of the concepts in accordance to the ideas of a certain social group about it. The main conclusions of the research confirm that the youth of Kazakhstan, as a social group, has a formed structure of associations regarding the role and status of youth in society and the development of socio-cultural potential, including in conditions of intercultural interaction. The practical significance of the results provides a base for the determination of the socio-cultural potential of youth indicators in the professional study field. Key words: associative method, frequent reactions, semantic core, socio-cultural interaction, youth.

CADETS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING DURING TRAINING PERIOD AT MILITARY INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

This empirical study describes factors that facilitate/impede the psychological wellbeing of cadets studying at Ukrainian military institutions of higher education. The preference was given to the psycholinguistic method of research, namely the free associative experiment. We argue that the most important factor for cadets’ psychological well-being is self-acceptance. When cadets correlate their self-image with professional military activity they develop healthy self-esteem and they are characterized by positive emotional states. Cadets’ failure to identify themselves with professional military activity leads to the predominance of negative emotional states. Factors such as some opportunities for personal growth and the increases the probabilities of achievement of the vital purposes are characterized by their correlation with positive aspects of cadets’ psychological well-being. A favorable psychological atmosphere in collective is another factor of cadet’s psychological well-being. The exceptions are those cadets who have inflated demands and expectations, or cadets with victim mentality. Factors such as autonomy and environmental management are characterized by their correlation with negative aspects of cadets’ psychological well-being. The high-risk category is cadets who enter the military institutions having ideal vision about military service that does not accord with reality, cadets for whom the decision to study in some military institution is made by their parents against their will, and cadets who join the army under pressure of life circumstances. The lack of personal autonomy and the inability to independently control one’s life can result in health disorders, as indicated by cadet’s emotional states of weariness, despondency, melancholy, hopelessness.

COMPUTER PROCESSING OF THE RESULTS FREE ASSOCIATION EXPERIMENT (based on information received from the British and Poles reactions to stimuli with the semantics of resilience)

The article presents the results of the free associative experiment conducted with the help of STIMULUS based on the reactions to stimuli with the semantics of resilience given by Englishmen and Poles and their psycholinguistic interpretation. Firstly, the authors describe the methodology used in the free associative experiment. In particular, they provide general characteristics of the questionnaire define stimuli (English crisis, crash, stress, pandemic, trauma / Polish kryzys, upadek, stres, pandemia, uraz), characterize the main participants of the free associative experiment (200 respondents, among which there are 75 Englishmen (representatives of Great Britain) and 125 Poles (representatives of the Republic of Poland)) aged 17-23 and 31-39), outline the stages of working out the reactions of Englishmen and Poles to stimuli with the semantics of resilience. Secondly, it is proven that the free associative experiment is aimed at studying the psycholinguistic meaning of a word, its categorical and objective meaning, the specificity of the meaning of some words, the reference words of comparative constructions, the connections between words, the organization of the human lexicon. Thirdly, the preparatory, practical and analytical operational stages of working with STIMULUS are described in detail according to the responses given by the English and Poles. Finally, the psycholinguistic interpretation of the responses to stimuli with the semantics of resilience with an emphasis on the coincidence of semes (from archisemes to differential semes) was carried out to confirm the respondents’ thinking with the help of synonymous associations.

The Perception of Medical Doctors on the Part of Hindu, Russian and Kazakh Linguoculture Bearers: Association Experiment

The objective of the article is to study the perception of medical doctors by Hindu, Russian and Kazakh linguoculture bearers by means of cognitive analysis of association data obtained from the psycholinguistic experimental study conducted among Hindi, Russian and Kazakh native speakers. Methods of the research include a free association experiment with a stimulus words डॉक्टर in Hindi, врач in Russian, and дəрігер in Kazakh, modelling the associative field DOCTOR and its cognitive structure, defining the universal and ethno-specific features of medical doctors as perceived by the representatives of Indian, Russian and Kazakh nations. The obtained associative data were distributed according to the frequency criterion, followed by content analysis and categorization. As a result, while comparing association fields in Hindi, Russian, and Kazakh languages the quantitative asymmetry of semantic zones and their associates is revealed. Conceptualization of medical doctors in the Hindu, Russian and Kazakh language consciousness includes both universal and ethno-specific features. The results of the study integrate the experiences of different nations simplifying the perception of their peculiarities, and may have a positive impact on cross-cultural interactions.

ЯЗЫКОВАЯ КАРТИНА МИРА ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОЙ ГРУППЫ «ПЕДАГОГ» КРАСНОЯРСКОГО КРАЯ

The problems associated with innovative processes in education entail changes in the activity of a teacher, in the professional picture of the world. To study the ongoing changes in education, researchers turn to experimental methods. The purpose of this study is to model the linguistic picture of the world of the professional group “Teacher” based on the analysis of the core of the associative-verbal network obtained as a result of the method of mass free associative experiment among teachers of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The methodology of the research is based on the provisions of the Moscow Psycholinguistic School, the studies of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, A.A. Leontiev, defining “the path of self-actualization in the process of activity interaction with the world” (A.A. Leontiev). The material for analysis is represented in the electronic database “Associative dictionary of the professional group “teacher” of the Krasnoyarsk Territory”, containing more than 2,100 questionnaires of a free associative experiment. The dictionary has a “direct” (from stimulus to reaction) input and a “reverse” (from reaction to stimulus) one. The latter provides an opportunity to identify a list of associates with the largest number of connections of the associative verbal network. Such a list is considered a list of basic values and the basis of the linguistic picture of the world of the subjects. As a result of the research, a model of the linguistic picture of the world of the professional group “Teacher” of the Krasnoyarsk Territory is presented, the conceptual core of the linguistic picture of the world of teachers is revealed, including the most important values for human life: man, money, home, friend, world, life, day, time, work, and rest.

Хейтинг как вид киберагрессии. Стереотипный образ хейтера в языковом сознании российских студентов

The paper features the phenomenon of hating as a type of aggression in cyber communication and the features that define it as a specific form of cyber aggression. The paper reviews the main domestic and foreign scientific publications on the issue of hating. The authors defined such understudied aspects of this phenomenon as racial hate and described the object of cyber aggression, haters’ goals, hating triggers, etc. They also analyzed various interpretations of the concepts of hating and hater. The research objective was to correlate the content of the concept of hater and the stereotypical idea about it in the linguistic consciousness of Russian university students. The research was based on reactions obtained by a free associative experiment from 537 Russian students, who were asked to fill in an online questionnaire. The authors used the method of semantic analysis to divide the reactions into semantic groups and associative fields. The verbal reactions were also subjected to a semantic gestalt analysis. The study provided a model of the stereotypical image of a hater as seen by Russian students. The model takes into account the content, structure, and severity. The current image-stereotype of hater looks the following way: a hater is an insecure and envious person A, evil, bad, not very smart, and not quite psychologically healthy, who hates person B (as a rule, a public person) and envies them, wishes them evil, and sees them as an opponent, while expressing hatred and envy by means of Internet comments full of unreasonable hatred, envy, aggression, and negativity.

Analysis of Associative Field “Politeness” According to Project “Multilingual Associative Thesaurus of Politeness”

An analysis of the associative field “Politeness” based on the material of the project “Multilingual associative thesaurus of politeness” is presented in the article. The purpose of the study is to identify direct and indirect connections of the word politeness in the associative-verbal network of native English speakers. To achieve this goal, a free associative experiment was conducted with subsequent processing of the data obtained. Quantitative parameters were used to characterize the connections of the word politeness: the probability of activation of the combination “stimulus — reaction”, the probability of activation of the combination “reaction — stimulus”, the number of mediations, the index of the associative strength of mediation, the number of overlaps and the index of the associative strength of overlap. It has been experimentally established that the combination of politeness — manners has the highest probability of activation (18 %). The combination of manners — politeness turned out to be less relevant. The highest index of associative power of mediation was found for the combination politeness — good (0.0424), which has eleven intermediary words (behaviour, considerate, consideration, courteous, courtesy, decent, kind, manners, nice, smile, upbringing). The data of the free associative experiment indicate that the words politeness and courtesy are the closest in meaning. Eight common associates identified in the analysis of the “Politeness” and “Courtesy” fields are signs that determine the proximity of the psychologically relevant meaning of words.

Integrative voice therapy: linguistic aspect

The relevance of the study of the linguistic representation of psychological practices is due to the need to introduce complex effective methods into the professional use of psychologists, allowing clients to cope with problematic psychological conditions. It is the linguistic perspective of considering these practices, the analysis of the word usage associated with them, that will increase their effectiveness by outlining the image of the linguistic personality. Interjection performs the function of mediation between the verbal and nonverbal levels, acting as an ideal linguistic element for both elaboration and representation of such psychological practice. In turn, research at the intersection of sciences will allow solving topical linguistic problems related to interjections. The article describes for the first time the author's psychological method of integrative voice therapy of O.B. Plistik and investigates the linguistic side of this technique: the features of the use of interjections in the framework of the practice "Human world order in the field of sound", which is the basis for integrative voice therapy. The article analyzes the data obtained during the survey based on the results of a free associative experiment, showing a tendency to the distribution of interjections according to the stratification developed within the framework of integrative voice therapy. The obtained results provide a rich material for the study of the features of the modern Russian-speaking picture of the world and the specific features of the linguistic personality correlated with the respondents.

Ассоциативное поле концепта ЗДОРОВЬЕ в языковом сознании студентов в период пандемии

The paper aims at studying the specifics of the association field of the HEALTH concept in the language consciousness of students in the linguo-cognitive aspect. Scientific novelty of the research lies in the application of a free association experiment method to identify the features of this concept representation in the perception of students living in the era of the pandemic by analyzing reactions to the word-stimulus HEALTH and determining the dominants of the association field in their linguistic worldview. As a result of the research, a qualitative and quantitative description of reaction words has been carried out, the association field of the HEALTH concept has been constructed, the specifics of objectification of its nuclear and peripheral zones has been revealed. It has been proved that the HEALTH concept is of great importance in the linguistic consciousness of students and reflects the events of the present time.

«РАБОТА», «ТРУД», «УСПЕХ» В ЯЗЫКОВОЙ КАРТИНЕ МИРА ПЕДАГОГОВ-КРАСНОЯРЦЕВ

Statement of the problem. The article is devoted to the problem of describing the value picture of the world in the professional group of educators of the Krasnoyarsk region. It deals with fragments of regional linguistic teachers’ consciousness, reflecting the values of professional activity. The purpose of this work is to identify the professional value dominants of teachers in the Krasnoyarsk region. The research material was the data of a free associative experiment, the respondents of which were teachers and students of pedagogical educational institutions of the Krasnoyarsk region. The obtained associations were analyzed on the basis of the dynamic relationship between the stimulus and the associate. This paper analyzes the content of the answers, the number of stimulus words that form the core zone of the associative field, as well as the age of the respondents. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that despite the physical and emotional exhaustion from the work process the professional activity of a teacher is perceived as an integral part of life, where close interaction with other subjects of activity is an important component.

КУЛЬТУРНО-ГЕОГРАФИЧЕСКИЙ ОБРАЗ СИБИРИ В ЯЗЫКОВОМ СОЗНАНИИ РОССИЙСКИХ СТУДЕНТОВ: ДИАХРОНИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

Statement of the problem. This article traces the dynamics of the stereotypical component of the cultural and geographical image of Siberia in the linguistic consciousness of different generations of Russian students, which is conducted by benchmarking the data of free-associative experiments. The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the cultural and geographical image of Siberia in the linguistic consciousness of Russian students in order to reveal its possible dynamics. Methodology (materials and methods). Reconstruction of the cultural and geographical image of Siberia is conducted with the support of the free-associative experiment method with the utilization of three dictionaries of associative norms and data of the in-house experiment. Research results. Comparison of the associative fields’ main zones of the stimulus “Siberia” demonstrated a presence of not only certain concurrences but also significant changes in the content of association directions as well as their presence/absence in the linguistic consciousness of different generations of students. Conclusions. With the consistency of merely geographical perceptions of Siberia revealed among different generations of students, a notable dynamic of their culturological knowledge and phycological perception enclosed in the comprehensive cultural and geographical image of Siberia was distinguished. Authors’ contribution. The concept of the article, its theoretical comprehension and experimental implementation belongs to the authors of the article.

Features of Modern Understanding of the Concept of "Love" in Student Families

The scientific article describes the peculiarities of the perception of student marriage partners of the concept of "love" as a romantic feeling. The aim of the article was to clarify the features of the modern understanding of the verbalized concept of "love" among student marriage partners. The methodology of researching the personal meaning of the concept of "love" was aimed at identifying their semantic spaces among 142 students who are in a marital relationship through a free direct associative experiment. As a result of the study of the associative field of "love" for five reactions for women and men, the peculiarities of the modern perception of married partners of the definition of "love" is the association with trust and care, care and tenderness. It was also found that the studied phenomenon is a category of intimate relationships aimed at satisfying sexual desire. Analysis of the data of a free associative experiment suggests that the idea of love in marital relations of students generally correlates with scientific ideas about these phenomena. Love is seen as "trust", "tenderness", "passion", "respect", "sex", "understanding", "hugs". These associations belong to the associative fields of various topics, including spiritual and moral, psychological, cultural and philosophical. The most common associations were also: faith, dreams, romance, beauty, motherhood, partnership, view, positive, value, strength, mutual need. Therefore, it allows us to conclude about the positive perception of the concept of "love". Students' daily understanding of the concept of "love" has an emotional and psychological color with a physical component.

Female and Male auto- and heterostereotypes of Russian and Belarusian youth

The article is devoted to the actual problem of the social cognition psychology: stereotyping as a mechanism of interpersonal perception and self-perception in the context of the biological sex of the subject and the object of social perception. The results of an empirical study of male and female auto- and heterostereotypes of young women and young men, performed on a combined (Russian-Belarusian) sample, are presented. Content features and modality (emotional coloring) of male and female auto- and heterostereotypes were revealed using a free associative experiment. The content and structure of male and female auto- and heterostereotypes that exist in the ordinary consciousness of modern youth have been determined and analysed. Based on the results of the correlation analysis, the strength, direction and meaningful characteristics of the relationship between auto- and heterostereotypes in the male and female samples have been revealed. The results of the study are of interest to specialists in the field of psychology of social cognition, differential psychology, social psychology of personality, psychology of heterosexual relationships.

Structural model of the concept of "education"

The article is devoted to the study of the concept of "education". This concept is fundamental for the Russian consciousness, since it is inextricably linked with the generally accepted system of moral coordinates. The purpose of this study is to build a structural model of the concept of "education" and determine its type. The solution of the following tasks contributes to the achievement of this goal: to systematize the definitions of the concept as a key category of cognitive linguistics, to consider approaches to the structure of the concept developed by representatives of various directions in cognitive linguistics (cultural, linguistic, logical, semantic-cognitive, philosophical-semiotic directions), to identify and describe the structural models of the concept. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is for the first time a segment-field model of the concept of "education" is proposed. The study was conducted using the method of free associative experiment. In the course of the study, the hierarchical relations core-periphery of the concept of "education" were described, as well as the attitudes of consciousness arising from its content. It is revealed that the concept of "education" is segmented, since the basic and additional cognitive layers that make up the scope of this concept surround strictly defined segments. The results of the study can be used in lexicographic practice in the compilation of associative dictionaries, as well as in courses of cognitive linguistics, linguoculturology and psycholinguistics.

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS AND DIRECTIONS OF RESEARSH CONCEPTS IN LANGUAGE

This article is devoted to theoretical principles and directions of concepts research in linguistics, which is the key notion of cognitive linguistics. The multifaceted variable understanding of the term “linguistic picture of the world” is analyzed. The cognitive picture of the world and the linguistic picture of the world are interconnected as primary and secondary, as the content of a concept and a means of the researcher’s access to this concept. This article examines the notion of “concept” in research of various scientists. It is indicated that there is still no clear interpretation of the term “concept”. There is a significant number of controversial issues related to the theory of concepts: about the status of the concept, its structure, features of verbalization, as well as about the typology of concepts. In modern linguistics, the following main approaches to the study of concepts are distinguished: semantico-cognitive, conceptual studies, linguoculturology, linguocultural conceptology. But despite the existing differences in understanding of concepts, representatives of these schools believe that concept is the main unit of consciousness, capable of verbalization through linguistic units, having a multidimensional complex structure. At the moment, we can talk about two trends in the study of concepts. Firstly, this is the study of the features of concepts and their functioning in different texts. Secondly, the experimental study of concepts by method of free associative experiment and receptive experiment. The article also considers the linguocultural perception of the concept and notes that the linguocultural direction, in our opinion, is a base.

The Concept CHINA in the Minds of Native Russian Speakers (Based on the Material of an Associative Experiment)

The article is dedicated to a study on the concept CHINA in the minds of native Russian speakers and the national worldview that has been formed at the present time. The relevance of this article is determined by the research interest in the significance attached to the concept CHINA worldwide and the need to identify specific cultural features of the Chinese national mentality as viewed from the outside. The relevance of the concept CHINA as the object of our paper is accounted for by the role of China in the contemporary world, as well as by political, economic, cultural, scientific, and other contacts between the Chinese and Russian peoples. The results of the free associative experiment on the stimulus “China” are used as a source of material for the reconstruction of the concept. The participants of the experiment were students of Kazan Federal University (KFU); teachers of KFU of various specialties; translators, engineers, employees from different enterprises and institutions in the city of Kazan; students of the preparatory department for foreign students of the Xian Petroleum University (foreign students from Russia).The aim of the article is to identify the cognitive features of the concept CHINA, and describe its structure in the minds of native Russian speakers. While achieving this aim, the following tasks were performed: 1) conducting a free associative experiment; 2) analyzing the reactions of the informants in the associative experiment; 3) identifying the parameters of reactions according to cognitive characteristics; 4) building the structure of the associative field “China”; 5) describing and identifying the concept CHINA in the minds of native Russian speakers.It has been shown that the core of the associative field includes associates about Chinese culture and its people. A high-frequency word “Panda”, seems to symbolize China. Almost all the respondents emphasize Chinese culture and the people’s mentality. The core of the associative field consists of the units concerning public life, health, and famous places in China. Tea exists in the minds of native Russian speakers as a favorite drink and a precious gift. The periphery of the associative field includes words related to Chinese politics, the army, and bilateral interstate relations. The cognitive signs identified in the free associative experiment on the stimulus “China” demonstrate Russian people’s great interest in all the aspects of Chinese culture and create a multifaceted idea of China.

Comparative analysis of the associative fields of the word-stimulus of EDUCATION

The article is devoted to the comparison of associative fields, which differ in the time of fixation and by obtaining associative material. To compare the content of the associative fields, EDUCATION took an associative field from the Dictionary of Associative Definitions of Nouns of the Ukrainian Language in 1989, which was formed as a result of a chain associative experiment and an associative field obtained by a free associative experiment in 2007 and 2021. The results of the comparison showed that the core of associative value remained unchanged. The connotative fragment is represented to a greater extent by positively colored reactions in the two associative fields.
 In both associative fields EDUCATION is thought of primarily as higher with a repetition rate of 33. In the associative field stimulus EDUCATION, which we find in the dictionary, the most frequent reaction is also higher, but with a frequency of 184 times, which reveals the prestige of higher education among Ukrainians. In the associative field we find reactions with a negative value — insufficient (frequency 8), bad, dangerous, low, funny, poor. Instead, most reactions contain a positive assessment of good (6), high, sufficient, impressive, good, qualified, strong, necessary.
 In the associative field of 2007, evaluative reactions are presented much less often and exclusively of positive content (best, mind 4, grade). In our opinion, a large number of evaluative reactions in the associative field of 1989 is explained by the research method chosen by the researcher to collect associative material, namely to provide a definition of the proposed stimulus. "Types of education" and "Emotional vector" became similar vectors for both associative fields.
 Lexical associations are a certain concentration of mental, cultural, textual and other knowledge. The reactions detected by free and chain experiments testify to the values and opinions of the language community during the experiment. When comparing associative fields, one can observe the dynamics of changes in the conceptual system of society, because during life a person rethinks or receives new information that affects the nature of the association.
 The results of a free associative experiment can help to design and improve curricula for higher education students and take their interests into account. The results of the comparison of associative fields show first of all the coincidence of nuclear tokens in the structure of the word meaning.
 In the future, conducting psycholinguistic experiments with the word-stimulus EDUCATION will help to improve educational programs, to identify relevant knowledge for the implementation of educational initiatives. This is the perspective of our study. The influence of communication technologies on language consciousness in the educational environment. Therefore, we also consider it relevant to conduct research to compare the results of experiments conducted in the form of online and offline.

The associative experiment as an investigative method of the translation process

This paper deals with the psycholinguistic cognitive process investigation methods of text reception and the translation process, the free associative experiment, which can be seen as a complex investigation method. Its application is, thus, to be embedded in the translational experiment, from the perspective of translation polyvariety: Two German novel translations „The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov and „Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Pasternak are to be analyzed in the frames of the psycholinguistic experiment. The source of the translation polyvariability is the subjective character’s meaning interpretation, which is based on probabilistic processes and associative meanings. Emotions play an important role here. The empirical data obtained will be used for didactic purposes in the prospective translators´ training.

ШКОЛЬНИКИ И ПАНДЕМИЯ: ПСИХОЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКОЕ ВОСПРИЯТИЕ

This article is devoted to the study of the psycholinguistic perception of the pandemic by a special category – schoolchildren. Due to the fact that scientists note the need to comprehend and cognize a new reality unknown to most of humanity, it becomes important to study the impact of this situation on various age and social groups. A free associative experiment was chosen as a research method, since it is the simplest of all associative experiments and, at the same time, quite effective. It presents the results of a free associative experiment conducted among students from 12 to 17 years old. Responses to stimuli have been studied: quarantine, mask, social distance. The reactions obtained as a result of the experiment allow us to reveal the ideas and attitude of schoolchildren to the proposed stimuli. Thus, the respondents demonstrate the greatest loyalty to the observance of social distance, the informants show less loyalty to the mandatory wearing of a mask, and the associates to the «quarantine» incentive refl ect the negative perceptions of children about this restrictive measure.

VACCINATION THROUGH THE PRISM OF MEDIA DISCOURSE

The research is devoted to the corpus analysis of the semantic prosody of collocations with VACCINATION in the broadsheet The Guardian. The corpora have been processed with the help of Sketch Engine and the collocations with VACCINATION have been analysed. The study mostly concentrates on the modifiers with VACCINATION as subject and object as most representative in media texts. The dictionary definition of VACCINATION interprets it as a word with neutral semantic prosody. The discourse analysis of the data obtained proves that collocations containing this collocate have mostly neutral or positive semantic colouring. The second phase of the research was a free associative experiment using the method of individual questioning of 355 testees aged from 16 to 22 years. The associative experiment enabled to single out words associated with HEALTH among technology, philology and medical students. We could observe a significant difference in the amount of the reaction VACCINATION in the group of medical students as they know the scientific approach and importance of vaccinations today, because they can prevent serious illness, medical expenses and disease outbreaks in the community.