Electronic Library of Scientific Literature




STUDIA PSYCHOLOGICA



Volume 39, No 3, 1997

 

 


PERSONALITY IN SOCIAL MACRO CHANGES: CHALLENGE TO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

Damián KOVÁÈ
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: Basic information about a conference focused mainly on the identification of changes which took place in central Europe after 1989. This work tries to justify the hypotheses of this project and sketch the themes suitable for deliberations of experts from various scientific fields, mainly sciences of man and culture and social sciences. Three fundamental concepts are defined in more detail: psychological understanding of personality (including the author's concept), the political-psychological characteristics of the social explosion in Europe after 1989 (the so-called post-communist syndrome) and socio-psychological characteristics of the interactions between personality and society. The conclusion proclaims a challenge for foreign experts as well, to take part in the illumination and solution of this monumental problem.

Key words: personality, social macro changes, cultural shock, post-communist syndrome, personality-society interaction
pp. 177-186


DIRECTIONALITY IN CIRCLE DRAWING IN RELATION TO AGE, SEX, HANDEDNESS AND HAND USED

O¾ga ZÁPOTOÈNÁ
Department of Social and Biological Communication, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: The incidence of clockwise directionality in the Torque Test (devised by T.H. Blau) was studied from the point of view of age, sex, handedness and hand used in a sample of 219 children selected from the 1st and 3rd grades of the normal school population. Results point to the remarkable developmental decrease of left-hand torque in right-handers, which is more marked in girls. This age effect is not apparent in left-handers, sex differences being also of a different character. Results are discussed in terms of some possible mechanisms participating in the torque preference, including the neuromuscular and the interhemispheric transfer hypotheses. The effect of writing-practice is also considered. The study brings some support to Blau's original proposal connecting circling behavior with neural integrative functions of corpus callosum. Several recommendations concerning the torque assessment are offered.

Key words: directionality, Torque-Test, handedness, writing-practice
pp. 187-195


PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY IN MEDIA-EFFECT-RESEARCH - PROBLEM OF DATA-ANALYSIS

Günter KERNBEIß, Hans-Jörg TINCHON, Peter VITOUCH
Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für empirische Medienforschung, 1010 Wien, Gölsdorfgasse 3/7, Austria

Abstract: Given film presentations and the emotional reactions to them, it becomes possible, by using psychophysiological measurement techniques, to obtain precise references regarding interrelations between film and experience. Fundamental to this type of research is an appropriate processing of the vast amount of data information which runs parallel to it (measuring the heart rate over a time period of 30 minutes at a frequency of 8 times per second reaches a value of 14400). Whilst progressively trying to reach an optimal analysis strategy, it can be shown that a comparison of heart rate means does not present the ideal solution. So as to be able to answer the question regarding emotional reactions arising from the presentation of quickly varying film presentations, and to gain meaning from the interpretation of such stimuli, individual physiological characteristics have to be taken into consideration. The individually different types of responsiveness offer an optimal criterion for this type of study. Data obtained from a study should show, by using heart rate as an example, how the abstraction of data proves to be an advantage: on the basis of responsiveness, the individual threshold is determined, which then allows for the distinction of psychophysiological reaction values lying either above or below the original threshold value. Further comparisons between the formal structure (the picture), the presented contents (the text) or between different groups of people can then be narrowed down to above-the-threshold reactions, allowing an analysis of the type of reception occurring during short periods of time.

Key words: heart rate, psychophysiology, responsiveness, emotion measurement, media-effect-research
pp. 197-211


MIRROR DRAWING: EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, TRIAL ORDER AND LATERALITY

Viliam BÍRO, Róbert ŠTUKOVSKÝ
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: The factor effects given in the title were investigated in a sample of 136 right-handed school children, with the time needed for tracing a simple acute-angled path as criterion. Optical feedback during the trial was possible only by means of a vertical mirror, and the hand order of the measurements (RL vs. LR) was randomized.The raw performance data were logarithmically transformed and variance analyzed: the resulting ANOVA confirmed the existence of significant differences for every factor. In spite of using the data of right-handed children only, the means for the right hand were significantly higher (indicating a worse performance) than for the left; and children living in an industrially contaminated environment had significantly lower means (attesting to a quicker execution of the task) than children from a region with a relatively clean, i.e. less neurotoxin-polluted atmosphere. Trial order showed slower performances for the first measurements than for the second ones, with this effect being significantly more pronounced when the first attempt was done with the right hand. The implications of this interaction are discussed in terms of hemispheric activation and general learning effects.

Key words: handedness, mirror-drawing, neurotoxins, fine motorics, laterality, neuromotor asymmetry
pp. 213-219


ADJUSTMENT PROBLEMS IN ADOLESCENTS AND DRUGS

Alexandra PROKOPÈÁKOVÁ
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava Slovak Republic

Abstract: The research focused on the symptoms in which the two groups of adolescents (those who do and those who do not experimentally use drugs) differ from each other. We did not study Ss with diagnosed addiction. The sample consisted of 820 boys and 945 girls (750 boys and 895 girls who have never used drugs and 70 boys and 50 girls who have used drug once or several times). This sample represented the whole number of 15-year old boys and girls attending all types of high schools in Banská Bystrica in the school year 1995/96.
We administered the Magnusson and Dunér's symptom questionnaire which studies the incidence and intensity of various adjustment problems relating to this age.
The results indicate that various depressive and anxious states in adolescents, aggressiveness, low self-confidence and poor ability to socially interact represent risk factors regarding the readiness to experiment with drug use. Hoever, poor relations with parents are the most significant factors in this context and they are even more important than poor relationships with peers or teachers.

Key words: adjustment problems, drug use, adolescents
pp. 221-224


PROSOCIAL REASONING IN CREATIVE ADOLESCENTS: THE PILOT-STUDY ON QUALITATIVE ASPECTS

Daniela KUSÁ
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: The study is aimed at cognitive dispositions for the interaction of a creative adolescent - group. A quality of reasoning of prosocial and antisocial conformity in high- and low-creative subjects has been pursued. Personality dimension internality/externality as a latent source of conformity has been involved in the study. The significant inter-group differences have been found in the occurrence of two categories of reasoning: role-taking in the high-creative and admitted conformity in the low-creative subjects. The link between reasoning and prosocial behavior is discussed as regard an influence of peer-groups in adolescence.

Key words: creative thinking, prosocial reasoning, role-taking, admitted conformity, internality/externality
pp. 225-232


ANALYSIS OF PERSONALITY DESCRIPTORS IN THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE

Imrich RUISEL
Institute of Experimental Psychology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: Basic knowledge about the role of language in identifying differences between personality characteristics is presented. Demands placed on lexical universalities are analyzed. Models of personality structure solve some questions of the classification of personality descriptors (discrete vs. dimensional, unipolar vs. bipolar, orthogonal vs. correlated, concrete vs. abstract). Based on the methodology of A. Angleitner and his co-workers, an analysis was carried out of adjectives - personality descriptors used in the Slovak language. Ten assessors categorized 2730 adjectives into 5 categories and 13 subcategories. In addition, the assessor's acquaintance with the term, personality relevance of the term and coefficients of reliability and stability of the classification were evaluated. The highest frequency was registered in the categories Societal and Social Aspects (17%) and Dispositions (15%) and in the subcategories Temperament and Character (8%) and Emotions, Internal States and Readiness to React (7%). The results found were compared with comparable research studies in the Czech and German languages.

Key words: personality, Big Five factors, lexical analysis, Slovak language
pp. 233-245


COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIOR PSYCHOTHERAPY IN SLOVAKIA: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Ondrej KONDÁŠ
Dept. of Psychology, Comenius University, Gondova 2, 811 02 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Abstract: In a retrospective view on psychotherapy in the former Czechoslovakia we present an aversive therapy of alcohol addiction widely used in a combination with rational psychotherapy. We present an outline of our approach to behavioral therapy stressing cognitive character and other specificities of human learning. We called this approach discentive psychotherapy (from the Latin word disco, discere - to learn). It uses modification of attitudes, thinking and imagination which represent a consistent part of systematic desensitization and memory training as well. Some specificities of the discentive psychotherapy were verified experimentally. E.g., a historical aspect of the development of mental disorders was verified by the so-called abreactive desensitization in which the anxiety hierarchy included the past traumatic situations. The systematic desensitization based on autogenic training was used in examination anxiety as well as in the preparation for labor. In children, the modified speech shadowing method in stuttering and the method of doubled reading in dyslexia were used.

Key words: aversive therapy of alcohol addiction, discentive psychotherapy, rational psychotherapy, systematic desensitization, abreactive desensitization, psychoprophylactic preparation for labor, memory training
pp. 247-255