Many people meet the differences of national cultures not only as tourists but also in their everyday working life, because the fast process of migration, internationalisation and globalisation inevitably integrate cultures within the framework of multinational organizations (Konečná, 2006). Organizations and cultures whose values are weak uncertainty avoidance, femininity, and low power distance strive for maximizing the benefits of diversity – like in the case of Scandinavian countries for example (Hofstede, 2001). The knowledge of cultural differences may help the workers operating in multicultural environment to reduce the possible misunderstandings and it enables them to foresee the possible reactions of their partners (Konečná, 2006). Work in multicultural teams requires flexibility, adaptation, understanding and respect for different cultures and values, tolerance, open-mindedness, friendly communication and good non-verbal communication skills. The scientific journals like Problems of Psychology in the 21st Century are the result of the efforts and the co-operative work of the authors, the editors, the reviewers and the readers in multicultural environment. Its aim is to promote scientific knowledge that could improve mutual understanding and coping strategies in everyday life situations.

Experiential groups are one of prevailing forms of group counsellor training, which is devoted to exploring group dynamics and other aspects of group work through direct personal experience. However, there is still too little research carried out in this topic and some lack of consistency appears in this field of research. The research reported here was aimed at analyzing group participants’ perceptions of multiplicity of contexts, as a distinctive characteristic of such group, which appears due to different goals raised and variety of roles performed in the same group. A qualitative approach was employed in this study using semi-structured interviews with graduates from international group therapy program. 5 participants of the Group therapy training program at the Institute of Humanistic and Existential Psychology (Lithuania) were chosen for this study. Besides theoretical lectures, program participants went through three experiential groups that were guided by experienced group counselors and also gained sort-time group guiding experience. The work of all groups was observed by two program supervisors. Study participants were asked to share the experience about taking part in group counselors training program, mostly focusing on experiential groups and their discussions with supervisors. The data gathered during interviews then was subjected to thematic analysis. Based on the results, the main topics related to group multiplicity were revealed and discussed: intrapersonal context of participants; organizational context of the training program; interpersonal context and wholeness context. Intrapersonal context of participants was associated not only with their personal dynamics in experiential group process, but also with participant’s personal traits, motivation, anticipatory expectations, attitude towards psychological help, the training program, other participants, experiential group counselors and supervisors. Talking about organizational context of the training program participants mentioned analysis writing that assisted in better understanding of experiential group processes and structuring own experience. Experiential groups and their supervision processes were perceived by participants as extended and complementing each other. Interpersonal context encompassed interactions with group participants, group counselors and supervisors. Wholeness context involved the perception of group dynamics in experiential group as well as in participating in the whole training program. Perception of this wholeness helped participants understand the multidimensionality of training and adapt to it. According to data of this study it can be noted that these various contexts are intertwined together, therefore it would be useful to focus separately on each of them in the future. This could assist in more detailed and clear understanding of their interactions.

The aim of this study was to reveal the experience of finality of life of young adults and to develop a substantive theory, based on experience of young participants. In this research, the definition of death anxiety was operationalised and the term finality of life was used. Based on a distinctive philosophical background, this term enables to research the prevailing phenomenon in novel ways and to have a different look at its experience. The classical grounded theory (GT) method was chosen for the research as it empowers to study and explain the phenomenon in a variety of ways, to extract its key points and concepts, and to provide its theoretical construct. 18 healthy adults aged 22 – 45 participated in the research. 2 in-depth interviews were conducted with each of the participants. They wrote a diary on the topic. The data was analysed using classical GT principles. Central theoretical component, core category, was named - striving to live more valuably. It discloses the extent to which participants deal with the main concern of this phenomenon – inevitability of death. Two subcategories emerge: finding a lively life and striving for subjective value of life. The latter is characterized as condition facilitation, satisfaction with life. The use of visual imagery for the explanation of the created theory help to reveal better the experiences, which are encountered by the young adults, while facing the finality of life or talking about this topic. It is expected that the present research will draw attention on the fact that in order to understand the human relationship with death and mortality, it is not sufficient to talk about avoidance and anxiety, it is necessary to speak about human desire to have a nice and valuable life.

Recently HIV is falling in a significant number of countries, partly due to the adoption of preventive behaviors, which demonstrates that decreasing sexual transmission of HIV is possible. The aim of this research was to analyze preventive sexual behavior in Portuguese adolescents, including information and attitudes about HIV/AIDS, and assessing whether they changed from 2002 to 2010. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from the Portuguese sample of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), a collaborative WHO study. The study provided national representative data of 10587 Portuguese adolescents, randomly chosen from those attending 8th and 10th grades and the opportunity to examine trends in sexual behaviour on a national level. In terms of preventive behaviours, results showed an increasing trend regarding the percentage reporting first sexual intercourse at 14 years old or more and condom use at last sexual intercourse and a stabilized trend concerning having had sexual intercourse and contraceptive pill use. Nevertheless, in terms of information and attitudes about HIV/AIDS, results showed a systematic decreasing trend.

The aim of this study is to investigate relationships between positive psychology resources – resilience, general self-efficacy and wisdom dimensions – cognitive, reflective and affective in different level business leaders and to investigate differences between two groups of leaders – with higher general self-efficacy and lower general self-efficacy. The study was carried out based on theories of psychological resources. Resources not only buffer against the potentially harmful stress effects of the demands of working life, but may promote development and optimal performance, which is necessary for leaders to be able to meet increasing demands of their role. 83 respondents (57 women, 26 men) different level business leaders participated in the study. Results showed that in sample of leaders group there are statistically significant relationships between resilience and self-efficacy, resilience and reflective wisdom dimension, self-efficacy and wisdom reflective and cognitive dimensions. Results of difference analysis showed that there are differences in levels of psychological resources between high general self-efficacy leaders and low general self-efficacy leaders. High general self-efficacy leaders showed higher results in all tested psychological resources and statistically significant differences between two groups were reported in resilience. Results suggest that low self-efficacy leaders would be less able to adapt to uncertainty, and/ or bounce back or recover from stress. Research results suggest that higher level of general self-efficacy is related to higher levels of resources – resilience and wisdom.

The study contains the theoretical review of different historical approaches to the study of typological properties of a man. One of the well-known typological systems in foreign psychology has been developed in constitutionology, juvenility characteristics, however, haven’t been included in its structure. On the basis of the studied samples the authors of the research consider the empirical proofs of juvenility existence, its significance in typological perspective and the formation of mental functions. The research findings of typological properties of the morphofunctional brain organization as a subject of both Russian and foreign psychology and psychophysiology are analyzed. Theoretical and experimental material is integrated in the analysis of individual typological peculiarities of students of higher educational establishments. The regularities of their manifestation at genotypic, behavioral and personal levels representing various hierarchical layers of a person’s typological system are revealed.

Obesity has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an epidemic, due to a growth trend in obesity rates over the past 60 years and it is estimated that by 2015 there will be approximately 2.3 billion overweighed adults and 700 million obese adults worldwide. Bariatric surgery has shown to be the most effective intervention for the treatment of severe obesity with better long-term results. While most post-operative patients of bariatric surgery show improvement in psychopathology and quality of life, psychological recurrences have been identified thereafter. It has been reported that for people who have not been able to implement changes in their lifestyle, the result of the operation may not be optimal and may even be counterproductive with undesirable outcomes, such as recovery of lost weight, malnutrition, depression and anxiety, as well as using food as a soothing agent to stressful stimuli, present failures in following the diet, as well as dissatisfaction with the staff of the clinic In recent years the number of bariatric surgeries performed annually has tripled showing a tendency to continue increasing, psychosocial and behavioral factors play a fundamental role in the long- term effects of the surgery; for this reason, the objective of this study is to describe the main psychological recurrences after bariatric surgery as well as a proposal for post-surgical cognitive behavioral group psychological support.

Parasites and predators possess serious threats to humans throughout our evolutionary history. Although the impact of predators in modern world is lower than previously, parasites still influence morbidity and mortality of contemporary humans. From the evolutionary perspective, selective pressures caused by parasites should favour individuals that successfully avoid objects/subjects which transmit parasitic diseases and/or those who are successful in combats with them. There is growing evidence for the existence of evolved anti-parasite behaviours in animals, beginning with invertebrates and ending with primates. Avoidance of infected individuals, grooming and self-medication are most common behavioural strategies that are believed to reduce the transmission of parasites. Here we review recent evidence suggesting that several behavioural and emotional traits in humans evolved as a response to selective pressure caused by parasites. Disgust sensitivity and pathogen threat may be a mechanism that generates both a cross-cultural variation in preferences for certain facial traits, as well as drivers of religious diversity, political stability of countries, parenting cognitive abilities and prevalence of extraversion and openness to new ideas. Finally, we declare areas for a future research based on questions guided by the evolutionary perspective.

The purpose of the presented research is to determine the relations between success or failure in second language acquisition on one hand and personal - social factors and attitudes of an individual on the other. Besides, to define what is the predictive value of personal or social features and the attitudes of the given individual for reaching high competency in the second language. 374 schoolchildren (165 boys and 202 girls) from three regional non-Georgian schools were administered with the questionnaire consisted of several blocks: Parents’ attitude to second language acquisition; Motivation; Anxiety related to the second language usage; Anxiety in class; Sense of self-confidence in the process of the Second language acquisition. The best predictors for success in SLA are: General interest in the foreign languages, parents’ involvement in learning process, instrumental motivation and self-confidence in the process of language acquisition. The study has implication for foreign language teachers and experts of bilingual educations.

Individual differences are a fundamental component of psychology, but these differences are often treated as “noise” or “errors” in variable-oriented statistical analyses. Currently, there is a small but emerging body of research using the person-oriented approach. In this paper a brief theoretical and methodological overview of the person-oriented approach is given. A person-oriented approach is often preferable where the main theoretical and analytical unit is a pattern of operating factors, rather than individual variables. In order to illustrate the relevance of this approach to research in educational psychology several representative statistical methods are outlined, two of which employ a person-oriented approach (latent class analysis/ latent profile analysis, configural frequency analysis/ prediction configural frequency analysis) and one that combines person and variable-oriented approaches. Examples of data analyses are used to demonstrate that variable and person-oriented approaches provide the researcher with different information that can be complementary.