Konstantin Bochaver’s research while affiliated with Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis and other places

p style="text-align: justify;">The article presents an overview of modern foreign studies on the well-being of professional athletes during the period of coping with the crisis associated with sport injury. It is indicated that sports injury has not only signs of damage to the body, but also triggers specific deep processes, including combined distress, violation of psychological well-being, inability to plan and implement professional goals. To cope with them, an injured athlete needs a wide range of internal mental resources, and in their context, personal authenticity is of particular importance. The approaches to understanding this phenomenon are analyzed, and studies on related topics are presented that reveal the psychological potential of authenticity in preserving and strengthening psychological well-being. On the model of sports injury, the prospect of a special successful rehabilitation through the implementation of internal growth associated with injury (SIRG) is considered. The problems and prospects of further research are outlined, and a vision is given of the wide application of the described mechanisms in the work related to the recovery of patients and their psychological well-being.</p

p>The article is dedicated to the anniversary of professor Igor V. Vachkov, which took place in December 2024. The main stages of the professional development of this outstanding psychologist-practitioner and scientist are described. Igor Vachkov has many professional roles. He is better known to some as a methodologist of practical training work. Others know him as the author of the polysubjective approach in the psychology of education. Many people are interested in the method of fairy tale therapy created by him in his applied work. The article helps to learn about him as a scientific supervisor, editor-in-chief of “Clinical psychology and Special Education” journal, and even a poet. We congratulate dear Igor Vachkov and wish him all the best, good health and happiness!</p

Legitimacy is fundamental for the stability, trust, and effective functioning of organizations. Still, little is known about athletes’ perspectives about anti-doping (AD) policies. We aimed to address this gap by investigating a broader set of personal and contextual features connected to athletes’ perceived legitimacy of AD policies. The sample consisted of 110 competitive level athletes from six European countries (M = 25.45 years, SD = 5.28). Athletes took part in focus group interviews including questions about knowledge of AD policies, involvement in doping control procedures and general evaluation of AD policies. Using template analysis, we generated four main themes; (a) Guardians of fair play (personal responsibility, and authorities’ responsibilities for keeping sport clean and fair), (b) All athletes are equal, but some are more equal than others(negative perceptions about the AD system and its efficacy in protecting sport), (c) Integrity under scrutiny (concerns about the fair and effective implementation of AD policies) and (d) Athletes as advocates of doping-free sport (motivation and actions to support clean sport). These findings suggest that policy makers should pay attention to ways to enhance athletes’ perception of legitimacy of the AD system, including improvements in the system as well as communicating these better to athletes and other stakeholders. Sport psychologists should be aware of and able to address athletes’ concerns about the AD system to support athletes in coping with the demands of high-performance sport which include the demands and stress from constant vigilance and anti-doping rule compliance. Lay summary The study suggested that personal and authorities’ responsibility are important for keeping sport clean and fair. Participants felt that anti-doping is necessary, and they were willing to support clean sport initiatives, but expressed negative perceptions about the anti-doping system and raised concerns about the fair and effective implementation of its policies. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE Athletes may comply with anti-doping rules either due to personal values and respect for the rules, or fear of consequences, or the combination of these. Legitimacy concerns may increase the stress and anxiety athletes experience over the demands placed on them by the anti-doping system. Improving the legitimacy perceptions of anti-doping policies will encourage athletes to support clean sport. Anti-doping education needs to recognize that compliance with anti-doping, clean sport behavior and support for anti-doping are different behavioral goals.

Системно представлена субъектная концепция аутентичности личности — черты личности, обеспечивающей верность человека своей природе, пространственно-временным обстоятельствам жизни и предназначению. Две основные функции аутентичности, трансцендентная и адаптивная, способствуют адекватному контакту с миром через просоциальные (в том числе моральные) установки и поддержанию психологического благополучия. Субъектная концепция представлена в семи положениях и верифицирована эмпирически. В корреляционном исследовании приняли участие 430 респондентов в возрасте от 17 до 32 лет (Ср. возраст - 19.20±1.22 леь), 88 мужчин и 342 женщины. Измерялись показатели об¬щего благополучия, позитивного и негативного аффекта и моральных мотивов; условно независимыми переменными были восемь показателей аутентичности, представляющих три модели. Проверялось три гипотезы: 1) диспозициональная аутентичность положительно связана с психологическим благополучием человека; 2) диспозициональная аутентичность положительно связана с моральными мотивами человека; 3) индикаторы диспозициональной аутентичности в рамках разных парадигм образуют разные паттерны связей с показателями благополучия и моральными мотивами. Все три гипотезы подтвердились (вторая — частично). Регрессионные модели для психологического благополучия оказались сильнее тех, что предсказывают моральные мотивы, а показатель аутентичности в рамках субъектной концепции образует наибольшее количество связей со всеми изученными переменными, подтверждая адаптивную и трансцендентную функцию аутентичности.

In a multinational study (61 countries; N =15,039), we examined how collective narcissists, both agentic (ACN) and communal (CCN), reacted cognitively (through endorsement of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs) and behaviorally (via prevention, hoarding, and prosociality) to the pandemic. Higher ACN and CCN predicted greater endorsement of COVID-19 unfounded beliefs and higher likelihood of having recently engaged in pandemic-related prevention, hoarding, and prosociality. The predictive effects of ACN and CCN were inde pendent, suggesting construct separability. Fear positively predicted endorsement of unfounded beliefs and behaviors, but the slope of that relation was flattened when ACN and CCN were particularly high. Finally, the relation between ACN or CCN and outcomes changed across countries varying in collective fear.

Dispositional authenticity is one’s “true” self but the understanding of this elusive phenomenon varies significantly within different paradigms. The study was aimed to investigate how descriptors of authenticity adopted from the person-centered, existential, and agent-based psychology paradigms may contribute to 1) psychological well-being 2) moral motives. 430 respondents participated in the study (Mage = 19.1 SDage = 1.2, 342 females). The instruments represented tree paradigms listed above: the Authenticity scale, the Authenticity Inventory and the Moscow Authenticity scale. To measure well-being (adaptive function) and moral motives (elevating function) WEMWBS, the International Positive/ Negative Affect Schedule, and the Moral Motives Model scale were used. Authenticity within the framework of a person-centered approach formed the fewest connections with indicators of well-being only. Authenticity within the framework of existential and agent-based approaches is related to both well-being and moral motives. The models and patterns of connections are discussed. Supported by RSF (20-18-00262).

A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests four forms of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these forms conduce to different ways of thinking and acting. Guided by this perspective, we examined in a multinational and multicultural study (61 countries; N = 15,039) how narcissism forms are linked to cognitions and behaviors prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, differences in cognitions and behaviors across narcissism forms emerged. For example, higher narcissistic rivalry predicted lower likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors, but higher narcissistic sanctity predicted higher likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Further, whereas the heroism, admiration, and rivalry narcissism forms acted in a typically antisocial manner, with high narcissism predicting greater endorsement of unfounded health beliefs, the sanctity form acted in a prosocial manner, with higher narcissism being linked to lower endorsement of unfounded COVID-19 health beliefs. Thus, the findings (a) support the idea of four narcissism forms acting differently, and (b) show that these differences reflect a double-edged sword, sometimes linking to an anti-social orientation, and sometimes linking to a pro-social orientation.

p>The study explores the role of personal authenticity in the psychological training of athletes, focusing on its relationship with intrinsic motivation, mental skills — including stress resilience — and mental toughness. Drawing on data from 355 male athletes (18-26 years) across various sports, standardized tools like the Moscow Authenticity Scale, Mental Strength Scale, Sports Motivation Scale, Ottawa Mental Skills Test, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale were employed. Path regression analysis revealed an empirical model that showcases how authenticity linked directly and indirectly to mental toughness through fostering intrinsic motives like self-development, enjoyment of sports, and resilience against stress. While direct contributions of authenticity to mental toughness are modest, its cumulative impact, factoring in mediating effects, is substantial. Notably, authenticity holds more weight for less experienced athletes in developing mental skills and toughness. These findings offer valuable insights for psychologists focused on the psychological training of athletes, especially in managing mental processes crucial for sport performance.</p

Unfounded—conspiracy and health— beliefs about COVID-19 have accompanied the pandemic worldwide. Here, we examined cross-nationally the structure and correlates of these beliefs with an 8-item scale, using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. We obtained a two-factor model of unfounded (conspiracy and health) beliefs with good internal structure (average CFI = .98, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .04), but a high correlation between the two factors (average latent factor correlation = .57). This model was replicable across 50 countries (total N = 13,579), as evidenced by metric invariance between countries (CFI = .96, RMSEA= .06, SRMS = .07) as well as scalar invariance across genders (CFI = .98, RMSEA= .04, SRMS = .03) and educational levels (CFI = .98, RMSEA= .04, SRMS = .03). Also, lower levels of education, more fear of COVID-19, and more cynicism were weakly associated with stronger conspiracy and health beliefs. The study contributes to knowledge about the structure of unfounded beliefs, and reveals the potential relevance of affective (i.e., fear of COVID-19) and cognitive (i.e., cynicism) factors along with demographics, in endorsing such beliefs. In summary, we obtained cross-cultural evidence for the distinctiveness of unfounded conspiracy and health beliefs about COVID-19 in terms of their structure and correlates. Keywords: Unfounded beliefs; COVID-19; Conspiracy beliefs; Health beliefs; Cross-cultural