Tolerance of ambiguity and properties of the nervous system in students of different education fields

Introduction. The impact of a number of factors of the educational environment on social and cultural parameters makes relevant the assessment of students' tolerance of ambiguity. Aim: to identify the features of tolerance of ambiguity and assess the relationship of its parameters with the properties of the nervous system among university students of different education fields. Materials and methods. The study involved 147 university students of both sexes (mean age 21.7, SD 1.1) of different education fields (law, physical education and sport, pedagogy). The tolerance of ambiguity (the Multiple Stimulus Type Ambiguity Tolerance I scale following E. Osin) and the main properties of nervous processes (express techniques) were examined. Statistical data processing was performed using SPSS v.23. Parametric methods were used to describe and compare the variation series of the studied parameters. The significance of the differences between the percentages of the samples was assessed with the Fisher test. Correlation analysis and correlation adaptometry were used to identify the structure of the relationships of the studied parameters. Results. Regardless of the education field, the surveyed students are predisposed to avoid novelty; from 50 to 65% of students demonstrate a low level of tolerance of ambiguity. High values on the “Attitude to complex tasks” scale are less typical of pedagogy students; high values on the “Attitude to ambiguous situations” scale are more typical of law students. Low values on the “Preference for ambiguity” scale are twice as common among pedagogy and law students compared to physical education students. The highest weight of the correlation graph in the “Tolerance of ambiguity - Properties of the nervous system” system was found in physical education students, the lowest one - in pedagogy students. Conclusion. The study of tolerance of ambiguity will allow researchers to evaluate and predict the tactics of structural and functional transformation of teaching methodology with respect to the education field.