Perceived Locus of Causality and Psychological Defenses of Students of Psychological and Pedagogical Specialties

Improving the quality of domestic education implies the subjectivity of all its participants. Insufficiently explored are the internal type of causality locus and the low intensity of psychological defenses as signs of students’ subjectivity. The research aims to identify correlates of internal, external, and impersonal causality loci among psychological defenses. The results of an empirical study on a sample of 1st-5th year students (N = 41) of the Humanities and Pedagogical Academy of the V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (branch) in Yalta are presented. Respondents aged 17 to 48 years participated in the study, with 90% being female; empirical methods included the Causal Orientation Questionnaire adapted by O.E. Dergacheva, D.A. Leontiev, and the “Lifestyle Index” (LSI) questionnaire by R. Plutchik, H. Kellerman, and H. Conte. Results: the internal type of causality locus in students of psychological-pedagogical specialties is associated with substitution, regression, and reactive formation, the external type only with suppression, and the impersonal type with suppression, regression, projection, and compensation.

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