Tolerance for ambiguity in the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical problems

Statement of the problem. Improving the quality of resolving difficult situations associated with teachers’ professional activity is possible only by studying those personal and situational variables that a) affect the resolution of difficult situations, b) are included in the personal structure and are available for comprehension. Tolerance for ambiguity (TA), being an intersubjective personality parameter, has all the necessary characteristics and can be considered when developing socio-psychological programs for teachers. However, its contribution to the resolution of difficult situations is currently not well understood. The purpose of the article is to show the place of TA in the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties based on experimental data. Review of scientific literature on the problem. TA has many interpretations and is considered by researchers as a personality trait, as a metacognitive characteristic, as a socio-psychological attitude. Currently, without denying the multidimensionality of the concept, the emotional, cognitive and perceptual components of TA are considered. This means a return, at a new level, to the original idea of E. Frenkel-Brunswik, author of this psychological concept, who defined TA as an emotional-cognitive personality variable associated with the ambivalence of experiencing negative and positive properties of objects of reality. Sharing the views of E. Lehtinen and K. Merenluoto, we consider TA not as a stable, but as a dynamic characteristic. However, we have to admit that in this aspect the problem has been studied least of all. Therefore, studying the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties, we consider as a separate task of studying TA as a structural component that develops in personal and situational interaction. Materials and methods. The research methodology is built in accordance with the idea of L.S. Vygotsky and K. Levin, according to which any objective characteristic with which a person interacts becomes subjective through experience. The second foundation is understanding of the personality in the existential and humanistic approach as the leading instance that mediates any interaction with the world and oneself. The third foundation is a situational approach. The study involved 111 practicing teachers, who were offered five problem-solving tasks. Self-reports were processed using content analysis, the results were correlated with the data of personality techniques, including S. Badner’s TA test, and were subjected to factorization. Research results. The paper proves that TA refers to intersubjective parameters that affect the relationship between the personality and the situation. The TA factor turned out to be significant for all three groups of open, closed, and mixed models of interaction in difficult situations and is included in the structure of the personal component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties along with such factors as autonomy, communication, cognitive interest, openness, and creativity. Conclusion. The idea of K. Dahlbert that TA is most of all connected with the time factor was confirmed. During the study, it was found out that entering into different combinations within the personality structure, the TA parameter forms different configurations. Combined with the “orientation in time” factor, TA promotes an open type of interaction, while intolerance is associated with categoricalness and a closed type of communication in a situation of difficulty. Temporal competence enhances the personality ability to resolve a situation of difficulty through time resource management. At the same time, expectation of easiness and categoricalness lower the developmental potential of interaction in a situation of difficulty. In general, the high weight of TA in the structure of the personality component of situations related with pedagogical difficulties allows us to consider TA as a task and condition in the development of socio-psychological programs for practicing teachers.