Personal Meaning Systems Research Articles

The ‘Gentle Recitation’: Writing Trauma in Contemporary Children's and Young Adult Literature

Trauma signifies the collapse of personal, social, and cultural meaning systems that causes a rupture to the bond that unifies the individual and the society. While narration of such devastation has been deemed impossible, and its presence in children's and young adult (YA) literature has been debated at great length, writers have attempted, nevertheless, to narrate the ‘unspeakable’ and ‘unrepresentable’ through memoirs and fiction for adults as well as children. Through the study of a select list of titles for children and young adults on the contemporary suffering and displaced populations of Syria and Palestine, this article aims to study the narration of trauma for young readers. It evinces the narrative strategies employed by authors to strike a balance between the two extremes of suffering and optimism. In doing so, it establishes that YA fiction authors construct a niche narrative that offers the realism of trauma through a safe distance.

Internet User Personality Virtualization Index: Psychometric Technique Approbation

Virtualization and digitalization affect such aspects of human personality as self-identification, self-actualization, and self-presentation. They also change the mechanisms of categorization and interpretation of individual experience while transforming the system of personal meanings. However, the degree and scope of the impact of virtual space on human personality needs further research. This research tested a new method for assessing the virtualization of Internet user personality. The author reviewed domestic and foreign publications to describe virtual space as a unique environment for life and interaction. The new diagnostic psychometric method proved reliable and valid. It demonstrated the level of personality virtualization as a number of cognitive characteristics. Three virtualization indicators served to define the direction of personality virtualization: immersion, involvement, and inclusion.

КАТЕГОРИЯ ЗНАЧЕНИЯ И СМЫСЛА В ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОМ ДИСКУРСЕ

In the field of human sciences the category of sensing does not coincide with the category of meaning. In the field of psychology there is also no unified definition of these categories. However, it is the meaning approach to the regulation of life activity that is the most effective in terms of modeling human behavior. Since meaning is broader than sence, it is the meaning interpretation that forms the basis of the psychology of understanding. Meanings express the subjective importance of objectively represented meanings of what happens in the world around us. In existential psychology, it is possible to describe the uniqueness of human existence on the basis of meaning representations. Meanings reflect the uniqueness of personal experience and the depth of a person's feelings experienced during his or her life. At the same time, the meanings and direction of a person's individual behavioral acts should be considered from the context of both the entire lived life and future life meanings. From cultural and historical positions, meaning is a psycholinguistic category, which acquires personal content in relation to meaning. Meanings reflect correlation of motives and goals of life activity. Meanings reflect not only intellectual content, but also show the emotional content of the experienced state. In personal development, meaning reflects the nature of interactions between individual perceptions of life and societal expectations about one's place in this life. Meaning sets the individual to perform activities in a certain way. This sets the stability and purposefulness of personal development. Personal self-determination in choosing the direction of professional development has a value-semantic nature, and also depends on motivation. The system of personal meanings has a complex manifestation and multilevel hierarchical structure. Meaning should be considered as an interdisciplinary construct that reflects the understanding of subjective meaning in psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. Meaning reflects the relationship between the subject and the object. This relation expresses the place of the object in the life of the subject, and this object is highlighted in the image of the subject's world. Thanks to this regulation of behavior of the subject in relation to the given object is carried out.

Development and modeling of combined components of the information environment

The relevance of the study is due to the problem of forming the concept of the information environment from the point of view of management. The theoretical foundations for the construction and practical application of the information environment of educational institutions are given, a model of an individual educational trajectory is designed, and the methodology for modeling the information environment of educational institutions based on systems theory is described. This is important, since the information environment helps to improve the efficiency and quality of the educational process through the implementation of information technology capabilities. An individual educational trajectory is considered as a process of making a decision by a student based on a system of individual values and personal meanings; contains a qualification model of a specialist in the world of professions and opportunities for the implementation of vital plans. The qualification model of a specialist includes a qualification portrait of a specialist, regulatory requirements – a set of linguistic assessments and a set of numerical assessments that meet the requirements of employers. As a result of the study, a systematic approach was applied, which makes it possible to determine the limitations of the system's functioning, the procedure for planning activities and the system for stimulating elements of the organization. A detailed review of the main models of interaction between the elements of the organization is made: bureaucratic, democratic participation and parity compromise. The bureaucratic model is characterized by a clear hierarchy of rules and decisions, strict regulation of job descriptions. The model of democratic participation is focused on the development of creative abilities of an employee, when, performing a particular function, he expects to achieve personal goals, directing his efforts to achieve the goals of the organization. The results of the study are aimed at an effective choice of interaction models depending on the main elements of systemic activities in educational institutions related to improving the quality of work and education

Культурно-конфессиональные факторы психологических различий адаптивной и преадаптивной смысловой регуляции

The relevance of studying the features of the meaning regulation of a person is due to the need to describe the mechanisms of the formation of meanings under the influence of cultural, social, historical and ideological aspects of his life. The authors present a theoretical analysis of the features of the formation of the system of personal meanings of people belonging to Western and Eastern Christianity. The purpose of the article is to identify the cultural and confessional factors of psychological differences in adaptive and preadaptive meaning regulation that exist among representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox branches of the Christian world. The paper analyzes the influence of various cultural and confessional factors on the meaning regulation of representatives of Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Catholicism and Orthodoxy, as the western and eastern branches of Christianity, have corresponding differences in the field of religious priorities: God's descent to earth at Christmas and likening to man against the divine Resurrection as a sacrifice for man; worldview: anthropocentrism against сhristocentrism; epistemological views: logical analysis and materialistic rationalism of the intellect and against the sacred unity of the relationship between man and nature; value attitudes: acceptance of one's imperfection against the desire for a divine prototype; cultural priorities: welfare versus sanctity; ethical beliefs: primacy of individual rights versus duties to the soul's conscience; social identities: self-affirmation based on law versus religious humility before spiritual precepts; political preferences: individual freedom versus the common good; legal concepts: legal contract versus moral union. Based on the analysis of the scientific works presented in this study, it is proposed to consider the cultural and confessional features of Catholicism as correlating mainly with the adaptive orientation of meaning-forming strategies, and Orthodoxy as correlating mainly with the preadaptive orientation of meaning-forming strategies.

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps as a Tool for Identifying Cognitive Conflicts That Hinder the Adoption of Healthy Habits.

Implementing healthy lifestyle habits can take a great effort and sticking to such prescriptions is complicated. Failure rates amongst people seeking to adopt a healthier diet are estimated to be around 80%. Exploring the network of meanings that an individual associates with adopting habits such as healthy eating, maintaining the correct weight, and practising physical exercise can reveal the inconsistencies, obstacles, or psychological conflicts that hinder change and target-achievement. Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCM) can be of great utility in this task as they allow us to explore the structure of the personal meaning system of an individual as well as determine any obstacles and simulate hypothetical scenarios that project its future evolution. This can help to identify the foci of cognitive conflicts that hinder the adoption of healthy habits and establish more effective personalised intervention programmes that make it easier to maintain these habits.

На грани науки и религии: историческая трансформация структур сознания как движение к свободе

The study aims to build a philosophical model showing historical dynamics of relationship between consciousness structures and personality structure. The work contrasted ideas of the European metaphysics of the XIX-XX centuries, data of the Russian and foreign consciousness theories, psycho-philosophical elements of the personality structure concept. The study is novel in that this is practically the first time when stating the issue in such a way has allowed the researcher to identify the most significant factors hampering formation of a system of the man’s existential meanings and influencing such social institutions as law, education and religion. A model, built as a result of the research, gives an opportunity to interpret the notion of “spiritual freedom” in the context of the “designative” concept of the system of personal meanings.

PECULIARITIES OF MANIFESTATION OF MEANING DISSONANCE

Modern psychology considers meaning regulation, as an integral mechanism of personal development. A system of personal meanings develops in the processes of under-standing reality. Due to their polymodality personal meanings cannot be good or bad, but they are not the same. When confronted with unknown situations, the unevenness of the emerging personal meanings can lead to match or mismatch with the existing system of mean-ings. Coincidence, as agreement with a new fact, means meaning consonance. Mismatch, as a mismatch between new and existing information, means meaning disso-nance, as a kind of cognitive dissonance. An analysis of modern psychological literature shows that there are two main plans for the action of meaning dissonances: the dissonance of individual meanings in the implementation of real interactions and the dissonance of common mean-ings during the translation of interpersonal meaning formations. It is proposed to consider that meaning ac-quires a personal coloring due to the processes of both consonance and dissonance positioning of meaning con-structs in the meaning sphere of the subject. The revealed dichotomy of the meaning formation processes shows the possibility of manifestation of meanings bipolarity, which is revealed in the process of transition from the internal to the external world and in collisions with oth-er meaning systems. Then it can be assumed that the ef-fect of meaning dissonance manifests itself in two ways: firstly, in terms of real interactions as a discord of indi-vidual meanings, and secondly, in terms of translation of interpersonal meaning constructs as a dissonance of common meanings. In the course of such an external for-mation, meaning becomes already a personal meaning in the consciousness of a particular person.

A PERSONAL MYTH: PHILOSOPHICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ASPECTS

The article analyses psychologically the personal myth phenomenon and the possibilities of its psychotherapeutic use. The essential features of the myth, associated with the emergence of psychological effects, relevant to the goals of psychological assistance were identified. They include: an initial appearance of characters, images, events; miraculousness because any restriction can be lifted under certain conditions; representation of the mythical characters as a role model; the myth serving as a priori streamliner for perception. Immersion of consciousness into the mythological reality is associated with important therapeutic mechanisms, such as: hope instilling, universality of experiences, existential factors; life event perception can loss its literalness. We have shown that the search for personal developmental guidelines and triggering the appropriate motivational mechanisms are ensured mostly due to the mainstreaming of the pre-logic, mythological level of consciousness responsible for a person’s creativity. A personal myth is defined as a system of core personal meanings formed by synthesizing the content of cultural and social myths with personal experiences, manifested and transformed through narratives and acting as a sensual perspective on the person’s life project. The main functions of personal myths are: socio-adaptive, meaning-forming, regulatory, axiological and integrative. We have shown that, in the psycholinguistic aspect, a personal myth is a text that serves as a mechanism of interactions between generalized cultural meanings and core personal meanings. The hypothesis has been developed that specific discourse analysis methods correspond to the content of psychotherapeutic interactions; these methods allow us to retain a client’s meaningfull integrity. Step-by-step tasks were highlighted for work with a client’s personal mythology. These are: finding a principle that organizes a client’s subjective experiences and revealing the personal myth through deconstruction of the client’s story text; assessing the constructiveness/destructiveness of its actual impact on the client’s life; helping the client to rethink the key elements of their personal myth and to choose together with them the mythological constructions corresponding to their actual problem; helping the client build practical life strategies on the basis of the rethought personal myth; supporting the implementation of these strategies.

IDENTIFICATION OF MARKERS FOR MODELS OF MEANING CONSTRUCTS

Strategies of meaning formation are included in the highest level of regulation of an individual life. The article presents the results of empirical determination of the polar meaning strategies marker. In the initial modeling of the meaning formation processes, two polar strategies are proposed: adaptive and developmental. The system of personal meanings occupies a central place in the structure of the personality and is correlated with its properties manifested in interactions. For an empirical description of polar strategies, we developed nine scales of personality properties according to the type of private semantic differential. In these bipolar semantic scales, we used words that denote personality traits that act as indicators of meaning. An empirical study was carried out with the use of various techniques for studying semantic regulation of a person to determine a marker that allows one to identify these meaning strategies. The battery of tests included: the author’s private semantic differential, including nine scales of personality properties, “Test of life-sense orientations” (by D. A. Leontiev), test “Who Am I?” (by M. Kuhn), “Multiple intelligence test” (by G. Gardner), “Test of frustration tolerance” (by S. Rosenzweig), “Questionnaire of personality reflection” (by I. A. Stetsenko). An empirical sample (n = 145) found that a stable positive statistically significant correlation (p≤.05) exists only between the indicators of nine developed scales of personal properties and the indicator “Meaningfulness of life” in the “Test of life-sense orientations” by D.A. Leontiev. This indicator “Meaning-fulness of life” can be used as an indicator marker of polar strategies of meaning formation: adaptive and developmental. Its use contributes to a more effective study of the processes of meaning formation and reduces the laboriousness of diagnostic procedures.

“I’m Not the Same, but I’m Not Sorry”: Exploring Dialogical Positioning in the Self-Transformation of a Former Politically Violent Militant

This article traces the personal and cultural voices expressed in the life-story interview of a former politically violent militant regarding her engagement with and disengagement from the armed struggle. Rather than looking at the macro and meso aspects related to politically motivated violence, we examine micro-narratives which express individual arguments, sociocultural discourses, and negotiations within and between them, These are voiced in the dynamics that take place within the self-system at times of key identity transitions (e.g., from being a committed militant to becoming a former militant). In this vein, we highlight how the embodied emotional chords of personal positions, the development of meta-positions, and the positioning and repositioning movements within the dialogical self, facilitate the emergence of new and more adaptive meanings in the personal meaning system of former militants.

MEANING CHOICE AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM

The problem of meaning choice as a psychological phenomenon radically different from the classical logical choice is investigated. Differences of mechanisms of formation of personal meaning and operational meaning are analyzed. It is shown that the process of meaning choice is based on a system of different personal meanings and includes such components as decentralization of meanings, generalization of meanings and the initiation of meanings. Decentralization of meaning is considered as its origin on the periphery of the semantic system. Generalization of meaning means its allocation and transition to personally significant positions among available semantic formations. At the initiation of meaning there is an evaluative selection of meaning constructs on the basis of internal criteria for further implementation in the activity. Based on the identified features of the choice of meaning made by man, some difficulties of artificial intelligence systems are shown. These difficulties are analyzed in logical, psychological, epistemological, axiological and existential aspects.

MODEL OF STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF PERSONAL MEANINGS

The study focuses on the model of structural components of personalmeaning and is based on the spatial organization of human life. The article describes the components of the semantic sphere in all the conceptual diversity of psychological approaches to the phenomenology of the process in question. The author analyzes theoretical and methodological orientation of modern psychology at the personal potential of semantic entities as a condition for integrated wholesome personality. One’s personality is represented by the subject and, at the same time, by the object of one’s own life. Personal meaning is defined as a complex system formation, which includes cognitive (life views, ideals, values, beliefs, and interests), emotive (emotional and evaluative attitude to oneself and to others) and cognitive (behavior, interpersonal interaction, focus and behavior in different social conditions) components. The process of meaning integration is accompanied by harmonization and unification of the structural components in a coherent system, i.e. the system of personal meanings. The system as a whole acquires new qualities, not present in the individual components, the personal meaning being the apex of personality integration. Components of the proposed model structurally reflect the methodological potential of the concept of personal meaning. The research aims at creating an integrated approach to the study of the semantic determination of personality.

Finding meaning in suffering?-Meaning making and psychological adjustment over the course of a breast cancer disease.

This study aimed to explore individual meaning systems in the course of a breast cancer disease to test the assumed positive relation between meaning and well-being and to investigate the relationship between post-traumatic growth and well-being. A total of 65 patients with breast cancer were examined 1year after initial treatment and another year follow-up. Questionnaires addressed meaning in life (MLQ), anxiety and depression (HADS), satisfaction with life (SWLS), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D, EORTC) and post-traumatic growth (PTGI). Personal meaning systems were assessed using a qualitative method. In the personal meaning systems with well-being and relationships as the most frequently named meaning categories, the experienced gains far outweigh the losses sustained as a result of the disease. A stronger sense of meaning was related to lower levels of anxiety and depression, a higher level of satisfaction with life and better health-related functioning. Well-being and post-traumatic growth were mostly independent. Reported losses were strongly related to a poorer well-being. Cancer can induce a process of personal growth, and a strong sense of purpose could facilitate psychological adjustment. The often claimed correlation of post-traumatic growth and a better psychological adjustment is still lacking clear evidence, whereas losses proofed to be crucial.

Content Analysis of the Construction of Self and Others in Women with Bulimia Nervosa

The purpose of this study was to explore the content of personal constructs in people diagnosed with bulimia nervosa (BN). We expected to find differences in the predominant content of the construct systems between women with and without BN. We analyzed the constructs elicited using the repertory grid technique from 120 women aged between 18 to 45 years, divided into two groups: a clinical group of women diagnosed with bulimia (n = 62) and a control group of university students (n = 58). The constructs were categorized using the Classification System for Personal Constructs (CSPC), composed of six themes which are broken down into 45 categories. For this study, a new area called “Physical” was included, and it consists of three categories. The results indicated that women diagnosed with bulimia used significantly more constructs related to the body, while the control group used more constructs from the personal area. In addition, the congruent constructs from the clinical sample were predominantly moral, or related to values and interests, while discrepant constructs were personal and physical. The findings provide evidence for the clinical use of the CSPC as an instrument for exploring the content of personal meaning systems. Understanding the patient’s personal constructions about herself and others is useful for treatment. Moreover, it is important for clinicians to explore the content of constructs related to symptomatic areas, which could be hindering change, and focus on them to facilitate improvement.

Personal maturity in form manifestation of value orientation

The need for analytical reflection of new research in the field of personal maturity formation caused by the release of the monograph of A.A. Furman, which is devoted to theoretical and methodological bases conceptual foundations of value-oriented of personality through its self-design her life and finding own ideological position. The human in the situational context of the present arrangement becomes a hostage of material life which becomes global scale, so the problem of formation of socially approved claims and spiritual values of the subject today is very relevant. In the model by-sphere’s organization of individuality axiosphere is intermediate between subject and installations attitudes, needs, motivational and behavioral areas, a system of personal meanings and their reflexive processing, thereby providing synergistic unity and harmonization becoming all the components of the personal world of man. Value-oriented personality effectively uses natural potential in developing themselves and the surrounding reality, successfully uses its own resources to hold his fate, given the demands of social public, perceives the world as a given and simultaneously animates and enriches his own power in acts of cognition, creativity and self-creation.

Three narrative-based coding systems: Innovative moments, ambivalence and ambivalence resolution

Narrative and dialogical perspectives suggest that personal meaning systems' flexibility is an important resource for change in psychotherapy. Drawn from these theoretical backgrounds, a research program focused on the identification of Innovative Moments (IMs)—exceptions to the inflexible meaning systems present in psychopathological suffering—has been carried out. For this purpose, three process-oriented coding systems were developed: The IMs Coding System, the Ambivalence Coding System, and the Ambivalence Resolution Coding System. They allow, respectively, for the study of change, ambivalence, and ambivalence resolution in therapy. This paper presents these coding systems, the main findings that resulted from their application to different samples and therapeutic models, the main current and future lines of research, as well as the clinical applications of this research program.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE STUDY OF VALUE-SEMANTIC SPHERE OF PERSONALITY IN MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

Анализ развития категории «смысл» в современной психологии достаточно актуален. Во-первых, само понимание личности приобретает смысловую природу, ее центром называют систему личностных смыслов – «ядро», такие образования личности как воля и потребность также пытаются объяснить через категорию «смысл». Во-вторых, активно развиваются категории «образ мира», «жизненный мир», «метаиндивидуальный мир», которые призваны интегрировать жизненные проявления личности. Их природу предлагается трактовать как смысловую. В-третьих, смысловая сфера начинает пониматься в отрыве от деятельности, обнаруживается ее самостоятельная динамика, способная по своему определению подчинить себе движение деятельности. И, в-четвертых, экспериментальная работа с категорией «смысл» привела к формированию собственной культуры исследования. Уже сложился круг методов – это фиксация трансформаций психического образа и отклонений в нормативном протекании деятельности, ее искусственное прерывание, анализ жизненного материала, создание ситуаций неопределенности и множественности выбора, изменение социальных позиций в системе деятельности, с помощью которых можно изучить смысл.

Akmeological and axiological components of profile vocational training of engineers in the conditions of modern technical education

In the article akmeological and axiological components of profile vocational training of engineers in the conditions of modern technical education are considered. As a main objective of axiological component of profiling the choice of personally significant system of valuable orientations and personal meanings is allocated. Akmeological component of profiling assumes the accounting of social political and economic conditions for disclosure and manifestation of personal and professional opportunities and abilities of future engineer.

Measuring Religious Attitudes in Secularized Western European Context: A Psychometric Analysis of the Post-Critical Belief Scale

Wulff's two-dimensional model of approaches to religion was an inspiration for the development of the Post-Critical Belief Scale (PCBS), an instrument measuring religious attitudes, that is, “paradigms of religious belief structure” in a secularized Western European context. The scale has been frequently used in psychological studies, has undergone psychometric analyses and modifications, and has been translated into several languages. The current study shows results of a psychometric analysis of the component structure of PCBS in different age groups over time using Clusterwise Simultaneous Component Analysis-Equal Cross-Product (SCA-ECP). The analysis was based on samples collected in Flanders (Belgium; N = 14,599). The one-cluster and two-cluster models yielded three components: Literal Affirmation, Literal Disaffirmation, and Symbolic Attitude, and there were no differences between age groups. In the two-cluster model, subtle differences between samples collected before and after 2002 were found, and these were related to two PCBS items referring to interpretation of Biblical stories. Our finding of a generalized Symbolic Attitude might be related to the changes in the approaches to religion in secularized Western Europe, and might capture the religious (dis-)belief of individuals who are open and tolerant to other religious systems, or alternatively, have become indifferent to them. Further cross-cultural and longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the religious attitudes in a secularized context, and the development of a new scale based on the paradigm of personal meaning systems is suggested