Abstract:

Intercultural competence (ICC) is one of the most important conditions for effective communication between representatives of different cultures in the modern global world. The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) by M.J.Bennett is one of the most applied ICC models in modern psychology. In Western and Russian psychology, numerous factors of the ICC are actively studied, such as socio-demographic, sociocultural, socio-psychological, psychological, personal, etc. For example, the Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness) are often seen as predictors of ICC.

In our opinion, aggressiveness as a personality trait has not been adequately studied in relation to ICC. In the presented study, aggressiveness is studied on the basis of the System-Functional Model (SFM) of personality traits by Russian psychologist Alexander Krupnov. According to the SFM, aggressiveness is considered as a system of motivational-meaningful and regulatory-dynamic components and variables.

The purpose of the present study is to reveal the correlations between the aggressiveness as personality traits and the ICC indicators. We suppose that both motivational-meaningful and regulatory-dynamic variables of aggressiveness have significant correlations with ICC indicators in Russian university students from different field of study.

A total of 180 (51% – female) respondents took part in the research. All the respondents were first–year Russian university students of philological and economic departments (50% each).

The aggressiveness was measured with the “The Aggressiveness Questionnaire” by A. Krupnov in T.V. Nechepurenko’ modification. This questionnaire includes 8 subscales according to the SFM and diagnoses 16 variables of aggressiveness.

ICC was measured with the Russian-language technique “Intercultural Competence Scale” (ICS) based on the DMIS in our modification that includes 4 subscales: Minimization, Absolutization, Ambivalence, Acceptance. The descriptive statistics methods, Spearman rank correlation analysis, and factor analysis were used for processing the data. Statistical processing was carried out in the R software environment for statistical computing and graphics, version 3.6.1., psych package version 1.9.6.

The research results show that Acceptance (ethnorelativistic ICS scale) is negatively correlated with Physical aggression and positively – with Reflexivity of aggressiveness, and Absolutization (ethnocentric orientations according to the DMIS) is positively associated with Verbal aggression, as well as with most of the variables from the motivational, productive and cognitive components of aggressiveness. Accordingly, students inclined to accept intercultural differences are less prone to manifestations of physical aggression and more often feel guilty for aggressive acts, while students inclined to the absolutization of intercultural differences, on the contrary, are more inclined to manifest verbal aggression and use aggressiveness to achieve their goals.

The results obtained must be taken into account when designing both ICC development programs and programs for correcting aggressiveness among university students.

Keywords:

Intercultural competence, Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, Personality Traits, System-Functional Model, aggressiveness, university students.