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Regular version of the site

Applied Social Psychology Programme Welcomes Ghanaian Student

Although it took some time to adjust initially, after only a short period studying in HSE’s Applied Social Psychology programme, Ghana native Ebenezer Yao Wepari is certain that attending HSE has been among the best decisions he has made in life.

‘Upon arrival, I found myself in a different culture where I had to pay attention to certain relevant details. For a few weeks after my arrival, the situation became normal as I began to adjust to the new environment and especially the use of Metro to travel to various destinations in Moscow’, he said regarding his experience adapting to life in Russia’s capital. ‘As a first timer in Europe, I find it surprising to see the depth of the underground Metros and the beautifully constructed hundreds of stations underneath’.

A graduate of the University of Ghana, Legon with a degree in psychology, Wepari recalled one of his first classes at HSE during which he introduced himself and spoke about his culture.

‘It was amazing to be in that class’, he said. ‘People who followed me on social media asked me to introduce and share how they could have access to such an opportunity. I am almost an admissions consultant or assistant to them. I recommended HSE based on my experience so far and the benefits at hand’.

At HSE Moscow, one of Wepari’s favourite courses has been Cross-cultural Psychology of Organizational Behaviour. ‘It has allowed me to gain an understanding of how culture affects our daily business practices and what is considered when hiring applicants to a specific organization’, he said. 

Following graduation from HSE, Wepari intends to pursue a career related to socioeconomics and politics, using his training in psychology to better understand the phenomenon of social deprivation.

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Plurilingualism Compensates for Low Extraversion in Nurturing Creative Skills

Researchers at the HSE Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural, and Creative Competencies have examined the role of the Big Five personality traits in moderating the development of creativity among individuals who use multiple languages and have intercultural experiences. It has been found that acquiring multiple languages and engaging with diverse cultures can enhance an individual's creativity and compensate for some deficiencies in communicative abilities. That said, language practices are likely to foster creativity only in mentally stable individuals. The paper has been published in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Attainment of Happiness in Psychologically Mature Individuals Linked to Pursuit of Meaning

Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl believed that the quest for meaning constitutes a fundamental and intrinsic motivation for all human beings. Some other authors suggest that the need for meaning or purpose only emerges at higher levels of personality development. According to a team of psychologists from HSE and the University of Paris Nanterre, individuals who have achieved higher levels of ego development are inclined to relinquish hedonistic motives in favour of cultivating mindfulness and embarking on a quest for meaning. These findings have been published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Married Men Less Prone to Workplace Burnout

Greater marital satisfaction lowers the risk of professional burnout, with this correlation being more pronounced among men than women. This is a conclusion made by HSE psychologists after conducting a study on the effect of social interactions on workplace burnout on a sample of 203 employees from several Russian companies. According to the researchers, gaining a better understanding of the specific aspects of burnout experienced by individuals makes it possible to address this syndrome more effectively. The paper has been published in Organizational Psychology.

HSE Psychologists Propose New Approach to Building Soft Skills

Researchers at HSE's School of Psychology have used the findings of studies into creativity and multilingualism to develop 'Plurilingual Intercultural Creative Keys’ (PICK), a new programme which integrates both aspects into the teaching and learning process. The study results have been published in Psychology. Journal of the Higher School of Economics.

Card File: Plurilingual Creativity

Fluency in foreign languages has multiple advantages in terms of cognitive abilities, communication skills, cultural awareness, and career advancement. But can bilingualism and plurilingualism (knowledge of multiple languages and related cultural contexts) contribute to creative thinking and one's ability to generate new ideas? Studies have shown that linguistic, intercultural and creative competencies are interrelated, and their synergy can give rise to plurilingual creativity. The following overview is based on several papers by Anatoly Kharkhurin, Director of the HSE Laboratory for Linguistic, Intercultural and Creative Competencies.

Readers Found to Rely on Word Spelling Rather Than Sound in Reading

Skilled readers are known to extract information not only from the word they are looking at but from the one directly following it. This phenomenon is called pre-processing. Researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain analysed the eye movements of primary school children and adults during silent reading and found both groups to rely on orthographic, rather than phonological, information in pre-processing an upcoming word. The study has been published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Psychological Intervention Reduced Stress during COVID Lockdown

Resilience and well-being in difficult times can be developed via online interventions in the workplace. An international team of researchers from France, the UK, and Russia (with the participation of researchers from the HSE International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation) studied the effectiveness of SPARK Resilience, a programme for developing resilience, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the study were published in the PLOS One journal.

Light Breezes Improve Moods of Social Media Users

Sergey Smetanin, Research Fellow of the HSE Graduate School of Business, conducted a large-scale analysis to examine the impact of weather conditions on the sentiments expressed by users of the Odnoklassniki (OK) social network. The findings have been published in PeerJ Computer Science. This is the first study of its kind in Russia.

HSE Psychologists Examine Baby Duck Syndrome in Digital Interface Users

Researchers of the HSE Laboratory for Cognitive Psychology of Digital Interfaces Nadezhda Glebko and  Elena Gorbunova have examined the so-called ‘Baby Duck Syndrome’—the tendency among digital product users to prefer the the old version of an interface over a new one. The authors compare this phenomenon to similar cognitive biases such as the mere-exposure effect, the endowment effect, and the status quo bias. Their findings are published in Psikhologicheskie Issledovaniya [Psychological Studies].

Meta-analysis Links Benevolent Sexism to Violence against Women

HSE researchers Elena Agadullina, Andrey Lovakov, Maryana Balezina and Olga Gulevich examined the potential links between different types of sexism – hostile and benevolent – and the likelihood of supporting or practicing violence against women. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of academic literature to find out how sexist attitudes can contribute to violence.