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Factor Analysis

Factor Analysis, a
method of multidimensional mathematical statistics applied in studying statistically related features to reveal a definite number of factors concealed from direct observation. Developed in the early 20th century for the needs of psychology (Charles Spearman tried to identify the basic mte/ferf-determining factor), F.A. became subsequently widespread in economics, medicine, sociology and other sciences with numerous variables, among which one should distinguish the main ones. F.A. is used not only to establish the correlation between changes in two variables, but also to determine the measure of that correlation and to reveal the underlying factors of those changes. F.A. is particularly productive in the initial stages of research, when there is a need to single out certain preliminary regularities in a given field. This allows to improve the subsequent experiment as compared with that involving randomly selected variables. As a method, F.A. also has some weak aspects. For instance it fails to provide an unambivalent mathematical solution of the problem of factor loadings, i.e. the effect of individual factors on changes in different variables.

Fanaticism

Fanaticism, extreme loyalty to any idea or cause based on blind faith in the truth of one’s own judgements and actions. It is accompanied by intolerance of other beliefs and views, and by inability to critically view oneself and one’s own actions (like in religious F.)

Fascination

Fascination, purposely organised verbal effect designed to reduce losses by the recipients of semantically meaningful information contained in a communicated message and thereby enhance the possibility of its effect on their behaviour. F. may differ in form. Depending on acoustic organisation, F. intensity may vary from minimal (monotonous announcer’s speech) to maximal ( specially intoned speech, recitation or singing). Rhythmic organisation of a message is an important factor of F. There is also semantic F., when, under certain conditions, the text of a message proves vitally signficant for the recipients to cause a sharp change in their behaviour (for instance, semantic F. was manifested in the "phenomenon of October 30, 1938", when a radio dramatisation of Herbert Well’s The 99 War of the Worlds caused a mass panic involving over one million people in the United States. (Fifteen .years later, a similar effect was caused by this radio production in Ecuador.) Rumours can also produce semantic F.

Fatigue

Fatigue, a set of subjective emotional experiences concomitant with the development of a state of tiredness. F. is characterised by weakness, feebleness, impotence, feelings of physio-, logical discomfort, awareness of one’s own disturbed mental processes, loss of interest for one’s work, predominant personal motivation to stop all activity, and negative emotional reactions. F. may also arise with protracted monotonous work. Yet, a paradoxical F. unrelated to tiredness may also occur. Another paradoxical possibility is absence of F. in a really exhausted individual.

Fear

Fear, an emotion arising in situations that threaten the individual’s biological or social existence, and directed at the source of real or imaginary danger. Unlike pain and other forms of suffering caused by the actual effects of factors dangerous to existence, F. occurs when the individual anticipates them. Depending on the nature of the danger, ’the intensity and specificity of F. would vary quite significantly to involve either alarm, dread, fright, or horror. If the source of danger is unclear or unrealised by the individual,. the resultant sensation is called anxiety. Functionally, F. serves to forewarn the subject of an imminent danger, allows him to concentrate his attention on its source, and compels him to seek ways to avoid it. When F. attains the intensify of an affect (panicky _ fear, horror), it may impose behavioural stereotypes (flight, stupor, defensive aggression) . F. can educate people socially. For example, F. of condemnation is used by society to regulate individual behaviour. Given that in modern society the individual is protected by judicial and other social institutes, his increased tendency towards F. lacks its adaptive significance and is traditionally viewed in a negative light. Fear reactions are relatively stable and may persist even when the individual realises that they are absurd. Hence when the psychiatrist trains a person to make him or her fear-resistant, this is usually intended to make this person learn how to exercise self-control in case of F., not to rid him or her of F. Inadequate fearful reactions are observed in various mental disturbances (see Phobias).

Field (in psychology)

Field (in psychology), a set of the present ("here and now") stimulants of individual activity emotionally experienced by the subject. The F. concept was developed within the framework of Gestalt psychology and topological psychology and was interpreted in accord with the principles of these two schools of bourgeois psychology. By means of the F. concept, one would characterise individual behaviour in a given situation depending on the subject’s orientation (see Field Independence) .

Field Independence

Field Independence, a concept designating preferential orientation of the   100 individual to inner structuring standards of outward impressions, when inadequate forms of environment reflection are imposed thereon. F.I. embraces a wide range of events, from those involving stability and adequacy of perception of the outer world in conditions that hamper such perception to manifestation of the individual’s autonomy under suggestive (see Suggestion) influence of a group or crowd (see Mass Panic; Contagion). Field-dependent behaviour is one in which the subject responds impulsively to stimuli possessing motivational force (“valence”) beyond the influence of a predetermined objective. Field-independent behaviour manifests itself in basic human orientation to one’s own purpose and in disregard of an existing situation.

Field Research

Field Research, study of social phenomena or animal group behaviour in normal conditions. F.R? is primarily the study of space-limited group of individuals (people or animals) within their daily activity, specifically human collectives in their social context; flocks of animals in natural habitats; etc. F.R. was initially connected with ethnographic studies describing events which were difficult to forecast and systematise beforehand. The main purpose of F.R. is to reveal unknown processes and their determining factors. Depending on its tasks and means, there are three types of F.R., viz., exploring F.R. (see Pilot Study), which is essentially descriptive in nature; diagnostic F.R., which is aimed at solving practical problems; and experimental F.R. (see Experiment), which involves verification of hypotheses. A major condition for F.R. is to ensure the observer’s presence that does not distort the natural course of the observed process.

Figure and Background

Figure and Background, a distinction that originated in the fine arts and was subsequently introduced into psychology in the early 1900s by the Danish psychologist Edward Rubin, who termed as figure the closed, protruding and arresting section of the “substantive” phenomenal field. The background surrounds the figure to appear to be its uninterrupted continuation. Separation’ of F. and B. may be shown by the following two-figure illustration whose individual parts may be perceived both as figure and background:

F. and B. differ not only descriptively, but also functionally. For instance, in visual perception, the background performs the function of a reference frame in relation to which the colour, spatial and other figure characteristics are assessed. The correlation of F. and B. underlies various types of constancy.

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First Signalling System

First Signalling System, see Signalling Systems.

Forensic Psychological Expert Examination

Forensic Psychological Expert Examination, a major form of application of special psychological knowledge in criminal proceedings. It is performed on the investigator or court order in con- ’ formity with the code of criminal proceedings in relation to mentally sane accused, witnesses, and victims. The general subject of F.P.E.E. concerns mental activity specifics whose study is important for establishing the truth in criminal cases. Specific F.P.E.E. inquiries may be performed to diagnose the presence or absence of affect in the accused at the moment of crime, the ability of witnesses and victims ( primarily children) to correctly perceive important circumstances for the case in question, and to testify correctly thereon; and so on.

Forensic Psychology

Forensic Psychology, a branch of juridical psychology that studies problems pertaining to legal proceedings: the psychology of ’judges, investigators, and other law-enforcement officers and lawyers, the essence of their professional activities, and their selection and training methods; the psychology of the accused, witnesses, and victims; the psychology of witness testimony and the psychological principles of investigatory and judicial actions (interrogation, confrontation, etc.); the psychology of inquiry; and the methodology and techniques of forensic psychological expert exam(nation.

Forgetting

Forgetting, a process characterised by a gradual decrease in the ability to recall and reproduce the learned material. F. was first studied by Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) who established experimentally the temporal dependence of retaining in memory senseless verbal material. Subsequent studies have shown that the rate of F. depends on the following factors: the volume of memorised material, its content and degree of comprehension, the similarity of memorised and interfering (see Interference) material, the significance of memorised material and its involvement in the subject’s activity, etc. The inability to recall some material does not mean that it is forgotten completely. What is forgotten is the concrete form of material, but its content significant for the subject undergoes qualitative changes and is included in the subject’s experience. According to the interference theories, F. is a consequence of the erasure of memory traces under the impact of proactive and retroactive interference. According to Richard Atkinson (1968), long-term memory is eternal, and F. occurs in the following way: a key to recalling is the choice of test (prompting) information which activates the corresponding retrieving sets in the long-term memory storage (see Memory, Long-Term); an inadequate choice of such information and its subsequent unsuccessful reproduction leads to the F. effect (this happens because the task of recalling a big volume of material involves big retrieving sets). But this theory is vulnerable, too, because it does not explain all F. phenomena (see 102 Sequence Effect). In Soviet psychology, prospects for developing a psychological theory of memory which would explain F. phenomena are connected with the concept of memory as an action per se, rather than with the traditional doctrine of memory traces (Memory; Memorising).

Freudianism

Freudianism, a trend named after the Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud that explains personality’s development and structure by irrational mental factors antagonistic to consciousness and uses psychotherapy based thereon. Having originated as a conception for explaining and treating neuroses (see Psychogenic Disorders), F. subsequently developed into a general teaching about man, society and culture to acquire a major influence in the capitalist world. The core of F. is in the idea of perpetual hidden controversy between the unconscious psychic forces (the main one being sexual urge— libido) concealed deep inside the individual, and the need to survive in a social medium hostile to that individual. The social bans that create “ censorship” of consciousness inflict a psychic trauma and suppress the energy of unconscious urges which break through in the form of neurotic symptoms, dreams, mistaken actions (oral or written slips), forgetting of the unpleasant, etc. F. distinguishes the following three components in the structure of personality: id (it), ego (I) and superego (super-I). Id is the focus of blind instincts, either sexual, or aggressive, which tend towards instant gratification, irrespective of the subject’s relationship with external reality. Ego perceives information about the surrounding world and the body’s condition, retains this information in memory and regulates the individual’s responses in the interest of self-preservation, helping him adapt to external reality. Superego involves moral standards, bans and encouragements assimilated by the individual, mostly unconsciously, in the course of education, chiefly from his parents. Arising from a mechanism whereby the child identifies himself with an adult (father), id manifests itself in the form of conscience and may cause feelings of fear and guilt. Inasmuch as the demands of the id, superego and external reality (to which the individual is compelled to adapt) on the ego are incompatible, the latter inevitably finds itself in a conflicting situation. This creates unbearable stress, from which the individual saves himself by means of "defence mechanisms", viz. repression, rationalisation, sublimation, and regression. Alleging that childhood unambiguously determines the character and attitudes of an adult individual, F. ascribes childhood an important role in the forming of motivations. F. sees the task of psychotherapy in revealing damaging emotional experiences and in liberating the individual of them through catharsis, awareness of repressed urges, and comprehension of the causes of neurotic symptoms. To that end, F. uses dream analyses, the "free associations" method, etc. In the course of psychotherapy, the physician encounters the patient’s resistance, which is subsequently replaced by emotionally positive 103 attitudes towards the former, i.e. by transference, owing to which the patient’s ego grows in strength to make him realise the source of his conflicts and outlive them in a harmless form. Freud introduced several important problems into psychology, namely, unconscious motivation, correlation of normal and pathological mental phenomena, the psychological defence, the role of the sex, the effect of child traumas on adult behaviour, a complex structure of personality, and contradictions and conflicts in the subject’s psychological structure. Yet, in interpreting these issues, Freud advanced scientifically unacceptable biologistic tenets which claim that psyche is subordinate, to instinctive asocial urges, that libido is omnipotent (pansexualism), and that the conscious and the unconscious are antagonistic. Thus, Freud advanced an inadequately interpreted psychological factor as a determinant of both organic and social life. By subordinating the history and culture of human society to that factor, F. mystified both, having thus taken on a reactionary ideological purport.

Freudo-Marxism

Freudo-Marxism, a trend in psychoanalysis that tries to combine Freudianism and Marxism by arguing that some tenets in both doctrines are allegedly common. F.-M. thus distorts the essence of Marxism, on the one hand, and tends to strengthen Freudianism at the expense of Marx’s prestigious doctrine, on the other. The first representative of F.-M. was Wilhelm Reich, who maintained that the proletariat’s revolutionary struggle must be complemented with a struggle for a new policy in sexual education. Gerbert Marcuse, Reich’s follower, alleged that the essence of capitalist exploitation was to restrict human urges, including perversions. At the same time, he reduced revolutionary struggle to a battle for liberating instincts. According to Marcuse, revolutionary forces are society’s “outcasts” to which he indiscriminately assigned students, the unemployed, lumpen proletarians, and national minorities. These views made Marcuse the ideologist of leftist and anarchic elements among young people. Erich Fromm’s claims that Freudianism is affined to Marxism deserve particular attention. Manipulating with Marx’s ideas, and not’ infrequently substituting their essence for his own views (see Neo-Freudianism), Fromm tried to create the impression that his theory was close to Marxism, continuing at the same time to criticise capitalism from abstract humanistic positions. All F.-M. trends are scientifically unsound.

Friendship

Friendship, a type of steady individual selective interpersonal relationships characterised by mutual attachment of its members, intensification of affiliation processes and mutual expectance of reciprocal feelings and preferences. The development of F. presupposes adherence to its unwritten “code” which affirms the need for mutual understanding, frankness and openness in respect to each other, as well as active mutual aid and mutual interest in the affairs and emotional experiences of each other, sincerity and selflessness. Grave 104 breaches of the F. “code” result either in a cessation of the relationship or the establishment of superficial F. or even to F. resulting in its opposite^^1^^— hatred. The opposition of F.—despite its intimate nature—to business, formal and other relations is of a relative nature. F. depends on common goals, interests, ideals and intentions. It necessarily reveals value orientational unity. The wealth of relationships within F. is determined by the social value of the activity to which the friends have devoted themselves, to those ideas and interests on which their union is based. The functions of F., its patterns of development, etc. change significantly from one stage of the life cycle to another and .are sex-specific. The intensity of F. reaches its peak during adolescence, youth and early adulthood when relationships with friends are of extreme importance, when the number of meetings is greatest as is the time spent together. Relations between friends are characterised by deep emotional contact. In view of the fact that girls experience a need for intimacy at an earlier age as compared with boys, they progress ftom childhood F. to adolescent F. at an earlier age. Marriage and other changes brought about by adulthood change the nature of F. and friendly relations cease to be unique, their significance lessens and the functions of F. change. Nevertheless, even at later stages of the life cycle it remains a major factor in forming the personality and supporting the selfconcept. Since F. is a social phenomenon, its analysis by solely psychological means is obviously inadequate. F. is studied by sociologists, philosophers, ethnographers and other researchers.

Frustration

Frustration, a psychological state arising because of some real or imaginary obstacle to achieving a goal. It manifests itself in sensations of oppressive stress, worry, dispair, anger, etc. F. intensity would depend on the significance of the blocked behaviour and the goal’s subjective “proximity”. Defence reactions in F. take the form of aggressiveness (see Behaviour, Aggressive), avoidance of difficult situations ( including transfer of actions to an imaginary plane), declined complexity of behaviour (sometimes to a level of deep regression), since increased stress inhibits finer and more complex actionregulating structures. F. may lead to character changes, uncertainty of oneself, and fixation of rigid forms of behaviour (see Rigidity). Quite often, F. results in neuroses. Hence, development of individual tolerance ( resistance) to F. is of particular significance.

Functional Asymmetry of the Brain

Functional Asymmetry of the Brain, characterises distribution of mental functions between the two cerebral hemispheres. It has been established that the left hemisphere operates with verbal-sign information in its expressive form and has the function of reading and counting, whereas the right hemisphere operates with images and has the function of spatial orientation, differentiation of musical tones, melodies, and non-verbal sounds, identification of complex objects (human faces), and production of dreams. The 105 basic difierence between the’two hemispheres lies not so much in the peculiarities of the material (verbal signs or images) as in the mode of information arrangement a^id processing, that is, type of thinking. While both hemispheres can perceive and process words and images (the right hemisphere being capable of perceiving expressive speech in the minimal degree), the processes proceed differently. The "left- hemisphere" type of thinking is discrete and analytical, inasmuch as it effects an array of consecutive operations producing a logically non-contradictory analysis . of objects and phenomena by a certain number of features. Thus is produced an inherently integral model of the world that can be fixed and expressed through words or other conventional signs, which is a relevant condition for communication (1). The "right- hemisphere" (spatial-imaginative) type of thinking is simultaneous and synthetic, inasmuch as it makes possible to “grasp” at once all the properties of the object in their interconnection and interaction with the properties of other objects, which provides for integrity of perception. Due to the interaction of images, they acquire multiplicity of meaning. This multiplicity underlies creativity, on the one hand, and complicates the logical^ expression of interconnections between objects and phenomena and can even hamper their perception, on the other. The hemispheres function in close conjunction, each contributing to the functioning of the brain as a whole. F.A. of B. is only characteristic of man; while its development is genetically inherited, F.A. of B. (just as speech) acquires final shape in communication. The “left-hemisphere” or “right-hemisphere” type of thinking may prevail depending on obtaining conditions, this to a significant extent determining the subject’s mental qualities.

Functional Psychology

Functional Psychology, a trend thai studies consciousness processes from the viewpoint of their functions in adapting the body to the environment. F.P. developed under the influence of the theory of evolution (Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer) and in connection with the requirements of social practice, which made it necessary to switch over from the sterile elemental analysis of consciousness in the structural psychology of Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener to the study of the functional role of consciousness in solving problems vitally important to the individual. F.P. involved several trends. In Europe, Theodule Ribot (France), Nikolai Lange (Russia), Edward Claparede (Switzerland) adhered to a natural-science interpretation of mental functions, and Carl Stumpf and representatives of the Wiirzburg School (Germany) to an idealistic interpretation. The US version of F.P. goes back to William James and is represented by the Chicago School (John Dewey, James Angell, and Harvey Carr) and Columbia School (Robert Woodworth), which regarded psychology as a science dealing with the functions (or “ activities”) of consciousness in their relationship to organic needs and in connection with the problem of organism’s effective 106 adjustment to a changing natural and social environment. This approach essentially expanded the sphere of psychology, which subsequently embraced not only consciousness, but also behaviour (adaptational actions), the motives of that behaviour, individual differences between people, the mechanisms of learning, and other problems that drew psychology closer to practice. The supporters of this trend substantially contributed to experimental psychology. Yet, the weakness of their theoretical stand, dualism inherent in their understanding of the correlation of somatic and mental functions, and their teleological view of consciousness as a purposefully acting substance resulted in a loss of scientific influence by P.P. In the 1920s, American P.P. yielded its positions to behaviourism.

Functional State of the Central Nervous System

Functional State of the Central Nervous System, the background or level of the activation of the nervous system at which animal or human behavioural acts are effected. F.S. of C.N.S. is the general, integral brain function characteristic that designates the general condition of a host of brain structures. F.S. of C.N.S. depends on the nature and specifics of the activity against whose background it is actualise’d; significance of motivations to fulfill specific activity; the sensory load, which may be either high or sharply reduced under sensory deprivation; the initial level of the sensory load as a reflection of previous activity; the specifics of the subject’s nervous system; and the effects produced by pharmacological, chemical, electrical, and other stimuli, which are beyond the organism’s habitat. F.S. of C.N.S. is assessed indirectly either by behavioural manifestations to which various levels of wakefulness would correspond, or by changed efficacy of activity.

Functional Systems, Theory of

Functional Systems, Theory of, a concept developed by Soviet physiologist Pyotr Anokhin, according ito which various physiological processes take place in an integral organism interacting with the environment. F.S.,T. is based on the idea that the function as such represents the result of organism’s adjustment in interaction with the environment. The functional system involves specifically organised activity of various elements, leading to a corresponding useful result. The functional system forms in the course of trials and errors (both genetically and in individual training) and undergoes corresponding selection. Correlation of recent organisms with the environment represents a hierarchy of functional systems that became increasingly complex in the course of evolution. According to F.S.,T., behaviour (active organism-environment interaction) is based on qualitatively specific systems processes, or on processes whereby elements are organised into a system; behaviour is purposeful, for it is directed by leading reflection of reality. The body’s relations with the environment are of a cyclic nature: the interval between the "stimulus" and the beginning of the "reaction" is distinguished by comparing the stimulus characteristics with the acceptor of previous action results, and by afferent synthesis, 107 basing on which the organism determines its subsequent action, i.e. chooses its goal and programme. The start of locomotor activity signifies actualisation of an action under the decisive influence of the goal (or of the acceptor of the action results); the achieved results would also be compared with the acceptor of the action results to initiate the next cycle of active body- environment correlation. The idea that behavioural neuromechanisms represent a functional system was suggested by the Russian physiologist Ivan Sechenov and further developed by Alexei Ukhtomsky. Nikolai Bernstein’s physiology of activeness contains similar concepts.