Foreword by the Subject Editor
Dear Readers,
We are pleased to present a new thematic issue of our journal, devoted to “Unsafe Behavior”. The key criterion for classifying behavior as unsafe and distinguishing it from other forms of deviant or risky behavior is the performance of actions that violate safety requirements. In a broad sense, unsafe behavior encompasses any actions that threaten an individual’s psychological safety: they may increase stress and disrupt a person’s inner integrity. In a narrower sense, from the perspective of behavioral psychology, unsafe behavior refers to actions that increase the likelihood of accidents, injuries, and other adverse consequences for life and health.
The issue opens with an article by T.N. Berezina and A.S. Tsvetkova examining the relationship between personality characteristics and a predisposition to unsafe behavior. The authors use a naturalistic simulation of a high-risk situation under conditions of a declared terrorist threat. A terrorist threat is among the most dangerous situations a person may encounter today. The declaration of a terrorist threat may provoke fear, stress, and anxiety; according to the authors’ findings, these states can be significant factors contributing to unsafe behavior. The experimental results indicate that respondents’ choice of unsafe behavior patterns is primarily influenced by situational emotional factors. In particular, anger arising during an extreme event increases the predisposition to unsafe behavior and the likelihood of an accident, whereas a sense of calm, conversely, reduces this predisposition.
The “Technologies for Supporting Activities in Extreme Conditions” section features articles by both established and early-career authors. A.V. Kokurin and D.V. Abdrakhmanova demonstrate how psychological and educational interventions aimed at developing critical thinking, self-regulation skills, and the ability to recognize cyber threats can enhance cadets’ psychological resilience to destructive informational and psychological influences in their article “Enhancing Cadets’ Resilience to Destructive Informational and Psychological Influences”. Researchers from Belgorod, A.O. Sharapov and O.I. Shekh, present an integrative model of psychological support for military personnel in large-scale combat operations: “Three Contours — Four Principles — Five Protocols”. This model shifts the first-aid paradigm from a verbal to a behavioral-somatic approach, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of support, strengthening the psychological safety of military personnel, and reducing the risk of secondary traumatization. Early-career researchers A.A. Ukolova and K.E. Buzanov present a review of the scientific literature in their article “Psychological Prevention of Unsafe Behavior: Experience in the Use of Virtual Reality Technologies”. The paper examines the use of virtual reality technologies for personnel training; accident prevention in healthcare; prevention of household injuries among at-risk groups; prevention of unsafe behavior in individuals with psychological problems; training of professionals in hazardous occupations; teaching civilians how to act in emergency situations; and other purposes.
The “Psychological Assistance in Extreme Situations” section features an article by a team of authors from Saint Petersburg State University — A.A. Fomina, V.D. Dotdaeva, A.I. Zhaldak, and G.V. Moskalenko — “Hardiness and Psychological Resources of Family Members of Participants in the Special Military Operation”. The authors’ findings may be used to support the families of participants in the special military operation by providing insight into the resources that help people cope with emotional distress as they adapt to having a loved one involved in the operation.
The “Social and Political Psychology of Safety” section includes articles by Russian and international authors. Our colleague Salah Laggoune from Abdelhamid Mehri University — Constantine 2 (Algeria), in his article “Toxic Leadership and Counterproductive Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Psychological Safety and Team Cohesion”, examines toxic leadership. His findings demonstrate how toxic leadership contributes to unsafe behavior in the workplace and highlight psychological safety and team cohesion as key mechanisms for prevention in public-sector organizations. Russian researchers V.I. Ekimova and N.D. Drizovskaya examine adolescents’ deviant behavior as a factor contributing to their lack of safety in the article “Social Identity of Adolescents with Deviant Behavior: Theoretical Approaches and Research Directions”. The authors note that the normative age-related dynamics of identity formation should be taken into account when studying the social identity of adolescents with deviant behavior. Incompleteness and relative diffusion of identity may act as factors associated with unsafe behavior and should be considered in relation to established normative orientations.
The “Psychological Safety of the Educational Environment” section includes a study by A.V. Timokhin and G.V. Gnezdilov, “An Integrative Theoretical Model for Studying the Psychological Safety of University Teachers”. The authors developed an integrative theoretical model in which psychological safety is viewed as the cumulative result of the interaction of six approaches. The resource-based approach considers resource loss as a mechanism of professional burnout; the environmental approach focuses on the objective characteristics of the educational environment; the ecopsychological approach offers a typology of interactions within the “person — environment” system; the acmeological approach determines the direction of professional development; the energy-information approach takes into account the psychophysiological “cost” of adaptation; and the individual-personality approach emphasizes the importance of professional readiness and teachers’ personal qualities.
Beyond the theme of the issue, E.V. Khramov and E.Yu. Litvinova present the article “Body-Oriented Practices in Psychological Rehabilitation for PTSD (A Review of International Research)”.
The materials presented in this issue are united by a common focus on unsafe behavior and the psychological safety of the individual in extreme, professional, and everyday settings. The thematic scope is broad, ranging from theoretical conceptualization to applied research in specific social contexts. First, there is a clear shift from verbal methods of psychological assistance toward behavioral-somatic and technologically mediated approaches, including virtual reality and naturalistic simulation. Second, attention is focused not only on the individual but also on the environments in which the individual functions — educational, professional, and informational. Third, the importance of collective and environmental factors — cohesion, leadership, and family resources — is emphasized alongside individual and personality factors. The issue demonstrates an interdisciplinary approach to unsafe behavior, examining it at the intersection of behavioral psychology, extreme psychology, educational psychology, and social psychology. The unifying principle is the understanding that unsafe behavior is not an isolated phenomenon but the result of interactions among emotional, personality, environmental, and sociocultural factors and therefore requires comprehensive, multilevel measures of prevention and support.
The issue includes studies conducted under Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 25-28-02920, “Psychological Prevention of Accidents in Extreme Situations: Development of a Diagnostic VR Model for Assessing Predisposition to Unsafe Behavior”, as well as materials from related studies.
Subject Editor:
Tatiana N. Berezina,
Doctor of Science (Psychology),
Professor, Department of Scientific Foundations of Extreme Psychology,
Faculty of Extreme Psychology