Psychological Thought (Journal)
Not a member yet
273 research outputs found
Sort by
REVIEW OF THE BOOK “HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY” WRITTEN BY ASSOC. PROF. STOIL MAVRODIEV, D.SC.
Full text linkThe review of the book "History of Psychology" presents a comprehensive theoretical and historical study conducted by Stoil Mavrodiev, dedicated to the evolution of psychological thought from antiquity to contemporary trends. The book is structured chronologically and thematically, emphasizing key schools, personalities, and paradigms in psychology. The author highlights the connection between historical roots and current challenges, including neuroscience, artificial intelligence, applied psychology, and global crises such as pandemics and climate change. This second expanded edition enriches the previous one from 2015 with new sections on existential psychology, classical experiments, the development of Russian and Bulgarian psychological traditions, as well as contemporary perspectives like the impact of digital technologies on mental health. The book is a valuable resource for students, researchers, and professionals, offering in-depth analysis, interdisciplinary connections, and perspectives on the future of science, with an emphasis on the role of psychology in addressing global challenges
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANTECEDENTS OF LIFE SATISFACTION
Full text linkLife satisfaction is exceptionally important for people, so that in-depth research of psychological antecedents that can be associated with this psychological phenomenon is needed. In particular, those psychological characteristics that can be improved and developed need priority attention. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which psychological well-being, hardiness, sense of coherence, and self-efficacy can be associated with life satisfaction. The study included 207 participants (29 men and 178 women) aged from 18 to 68 years (M = 34.1, SD = 11.8). Results of correlation and multiple regression analyses showed that the most important antecedent of life satisfaction was self-acceptance. This indicator of psychological well-being had the strongest correlations with both indicators of life satisfaction used in the study – satisfaction with life and subjective happiness, and also entered the first place in both highly informative prognostic models built for these indicators. Also, three more indicators were included in these prognostic models: one more indicator of psychological well-being - autonomy, one indicator of hardiness - control, and self-efficacy. In addition to them, environmental mastery, purpose in life, commitment and challenge acceptance also had expressed associations with life satisfaction. Our findings deepened current understanding regarding influence of psychological antecedents on a person’s life satisfaction. They can be used to help a person achieve life satisfaction through development of appropriate psychological characteristics
SCHOOL COUNSELORS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN ADDRESSING ADOLESCENTS’ MENTAL ISSUES IN THE AFTER-COVID-19 ERA
Full text linkThe unanticipated arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has upset thousands of adolescents worldwide, whereas shifts to remote schooling have minimized their access to school-based support. This study focused on three research questions: How do School Counselors (a) evaluate the impact of COVID-19 restrictive measures on adolescents' mental health? (b) appraise their self-efficacy to help adolescents cope with the challenges? (c) Assess post-pandemic pupil behavior and their self-efficacy beliefs. It aimed to resource creative school-counseling approaches to improve youth resilience. Findings showed that counselors regarded generalized worry, concern about academic studies and job development, and increasing internet use as adolescents' most important psychological/behavioral issues. Most counselors felt efficient in their professional development, teamwork, cross-cultural sensitivity, leadership, assessment, personal and social growth, and development. Counselors who evaluated pupils as high/medium in generalized anxiety, depressive symptoms, academic/career development, and excessive internet time evaluated themselves significantly higher on all factors of the self-efficacy scale compared to those who assessed students as medium/low on the aforementioned factors, who scored significantly lower in self-efficacy
THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON FORMING NEW RELATIONSHIPS: IMPLICATIONS FOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, THEORY OF MIND, EMPATHY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Full text linkAs a fallout of the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world was put into isolation. During this period, social media saw a record influx of users who used the technology to stay connected. However, the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on interpersonal relationships and mental health remain a burning topic. Thus, the study aims to examine how the pandemic affected our ability to build new interpersonal relationships in connection to aspects of emotional intelligence such as empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM). Furthermore, the study also examines how the use of social media for communication changed after the pandemic. In total, N = 464 subjects (Age: M = 27.07; 47%, F = 25,9; 53%) participated in the study. Empathy, ToM, social media use for communication before and after the pandemic, and the ability to form new relationships before and after the pandemic were assessed. A compelling finding of the study indicates a statistically significant positive relationship between empathy and the ability to form new relationships before and after the pandemic, suggesting that empathy outweighs both emotional intelligence and social media usage in building new relationships. However, no significant relation was found between ToM and the ability to form new relationships before and after the pandemic. Lastly, no relation was found between ToM, empathy, and the use of social media for communication before and after the pandemic. Future studies should examine how the pandemic may have affected other facets of relationship formation and social interaction dynamics in connection with other aspects of emotional intelligence that have not been covered
SCRIPTS OF A COMPLEX AFFECTIVE FUNCTIONS REGULATION
Full text linkThe current study presents preliminary results from an extensive study called "Potential to be well", conducted with different quotas taking in account gender, people with or without psychiatric diagnosis and cohorts of different ages. The aim of the research is to test some scales for self-assessment developed by positive psychology, implementing the multi-method approach, but also to analyze the data for existing patterns’ differences in complex affective functions and dysfunctions. The “resilience”, “subjective life-satisfaction”, “emotional expressiveness”, “expressive ambivalence”, “suppression or reappraisal in emotion regulation” inventories are reliable and valid measures, which reflect complex subjective functions from the emotional sphere. It is noted that these indices follow a bi-directional logic – some patterns express negative trends in experiences, and others reflect a positive psychological transformation of primary functions helping to overcome emotional difficulties and turning adversity into advantage. It was also found that three scripts of complex mediatory sequential models are demonstrated, which combined, predict how two intuitive routes sustain and effect deterioration or improvement in the context of an individual case interpretation
REVIEW OF THE BOOK "A MODEL FOR DIAGNOSIS AND PREVENTION OF AGGRESSIVENESS IN THE BEHAVIOR OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-AGE STUDENTS
Full text linkThe review presents the monograph of Chief. Associate Professor Simona Nikolova, PhD "Model for diagnosis and prevention of aggressiveness in the behavior of primary school students", which is distinguished by relevance, given the dynamic and often extreme situation in the educational environment. The topic focuses on the need to prevent aggressiveness in the behavior of children of primary school age, as a form of overcoming negative manifestations in their behavior. The proposed model methodologically offers an idea for the work of the school psychologist with students of primary school age with the aim of developing cognitive and emotional skills for communicating with peers, developing empathic abilities and opportunities to evaluate others' behavior. The proposed program offers, in terms of content, the immediate work of the psychologist with the children in a real school environment
INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AS PREDICTOR OF MENTAL WELL-BEING AMONG MARRIED INDIVIDUALS
Full text linkSeveral studies have shown that Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) has a negative influence on the mental well-being of married individuals in the contexts where they were conducted. However, the influence of intimate partner violence (IPV) on the mental well-being of married individuals in many developing countries, especially those in Africa, have been under-reported. The study reported here should thus add much value to the pool of literature aimed at exploring the predictive influence of IPV on mental well-being among married individuals in developing contexts. This cross-sectional survey adopted a purposive sampling technique to select 686 married individuals. The results showed that demographic variables (age, educational level, and marriage duration) and IPV dimensions (humiliation and afraid) jointly and independently predicted mental well-being with a variation of 11%. Regarding the contributions of each variable to mental well-being, age, educational level, marriage duration, humiliation, and afraid predicted mental well-being. Based on these findings it is recommended that more relevant training on attitudinal change programs and mechanisms to prevent and respond to violence among married individuals should be strengthened by relevant stakeholders
SCOPING REVIEW OF PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO THE EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE MEASURES TAKEN
Full text linkPublications of 21 scientific studies from the field of psychology and psychiatry related to the effects that the spread of COVID-19 has on mental health and the measures taken by mental health professionals to control the negative consequences on the psyche of people are presented. In this regard, the aim of the article is to present a summary of the main subjects in scientific research in the field of mental health. The article differentiates five main problem areas in relation to people's mental health and emotional response to COVID-19: in terms of age; gender differences; personality characteristics; professional activity and behaviour; telepsychiatry and telepsychology. The analysis of the publications shows that the effects can be divided into two categories: short-term and long-term, and in both categories the effects can be positive and negative; the authors emphasize the phenomenology of subjective experiences. Most researchers draw the following conclusions: the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked high levels of stress, mental instability, PTSD, depression, cognitive and neurological disorders; vulnerable groups (elderly people, young people, health professionals, people with mental health problems before the pandemic, homeless people and refugees) have more mental health problems during the pandemic and are slower to recover. Another important conclusion from the 21 studies studied is that it is necessary to formulate recommendations to improve people's mental health, to involve mental health professionals in the development of comprehensive public health policies and to support health care workforce as well as to improve public health prevention strategies, especially during health crises
PHENOMENOLOGY OF REFLECTION: A CONVERSATION WITH PROF. VESELIN VASSILEV, D.SC.
Full text linkThe text introduces Prof. Veselin Vassilev, Ph.D., D.Sc., his scientific work and his contributions to the study of reflection. In response to the questions posed, Prof. Vasiliev outlines a phenomenology of the construct "reflexion" and provides information about the state of psychology in recent decades in our country and in other countries
CROSS-NATIONAL MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE OF THE PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE-4 (PHQ-4) AS A SCREENING MEASURE FOR DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY SYMPTOMS IN 12 LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES
Full text linkThe Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) is a widely used instrument to measure symptoms of depression and anxiety in general, but not much is known about its cross-cultural utility in Latin America. The present study evaluated the measurement invariance of the PHQ-4 in adult samples (N = 5441) from 12 Latin American countries (Paraguay, El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Argentina, and Bolivia). The two-factor structure presented a superior fit to the one-factor structure. This provides evidence to support a two-dimensional model of anxious and depressive symptomatology of the PHQ-4, with a good estimate of reliability. The configural, metric, scalar and strict invariance of the PHQ-4 was supported, suggesting that participants from all countries attribute the same meaning to the latent constructs anxiety and depression and their scores can be compared. Additionally, support was provided for the hypothesis that the presence of depressive symptoms significantly predicts subjective well-being. However, the presence of anxiety symptoms fails to significantly predict participants well-being. It is concluded that the PHQ-4 provides a largely comparable measure of anxiety and depression symptoms in a large sample of Latin American countries