The article is devoted to the description and explanation of individual psychological and social phenomena from the point of view of actualizing thanatic issues during the COVID-19 pandemic and its information coverage. The relevance of the study is due to the situation of the spread of coronavirus infection, the peculiarities of combating its spread, the influence of information technologies on this process and the need to understand the phenomena that have developed in society. The novelty of the research lies in the complex consideration of various social and individual psychological phenomena from the standpoint of the influence of the vital threat and existential fears on the individual and social consciousness. The article contains information on the socio-psychological phenomena that manifested themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic (alarmism, infodemic, intergroup tensions, stigmatization of certain groups of the population, a shift in political preferences, aggravation or emergence of mental disorders, inadequate purchasing activity) and describes them in terms of Terror Management Theory. In the conclusion, prospects are given for using the provisions of Terror Management Theory to develop a strategy for overcoming a pandemic situation, taking into account the action of proximal and distal defenses. The author comes to the conclusion that the features of the information coverage of the situation have a strong influence on its further development, in connection with which it is necessary to develop a clear plan for the preparation of official information that meets the criteria of completeness, credibility, scientific character and conveys the idea of positive realism.

The article is devoted to the thanatological formation peculiarities of competence in the education of psychologists in Russia and abroad. The article describes the socio-cultural, professional and individual-psychological relevance of thanatological competence in the implementation of the practical and pedagogical activities of a psychologist. The novelty of the research lies in the substantiation of the need to form thanatological competence as mastering thanatological knowledge for making professional decisions. The article describes the history of the development of “death education” abroad and in Russia, originating in the hospice movement. The article provides a brief description of the didactic and experiential approach to the implementation of programs and courses on the formation of thanatological competence for students in the United States. At the same time, in Russia such courses exist in several higher educational institutions, in others they are presented within the framework of single lectures included in the cycles of basic disciplines. The article contains information about studies demonstrating the need for the formation of thanatological competence in students and the success of the implementation of programs aimed at this abroad. In the conclusion of the article, the prospects for the implementation of programs aimed at the thanatological competence formation for practicing students are described.

The aim of the research is studying the individual psychological characteristics of teachers included in project activities as student teams mentors. The purpose of the work was to identify influence degree of individual psychological characteristics of mentors to the success level in the implementation activities of project student groups. The work presents the results of the empirical study based on the educational intensive SfeduNet, which was implemented and hosted by the Southern Federal University in cooperation with the NTI University 20.35. The object of the empirical study was 84 SfeduNet intensive mentors, aged 26 to 55 years (M=40.70; SD=7.36), 20,20% of respondents are men and 79,80% are women. Methodological tools are represented by psychological questionnaires: “Methodology for diagnosing general communicative tolerance” (V.V. Boyko), “Motivation for success and fear of failure” (A.A. Rean), “Communicative and organizational skills (COI-2 emotional intelligence questionnaire by D.V. Lyusin. The individual psychological characteristics of project mentors were identified, as well as the features which determine the mentor’s effectiveness activity for project team support. They were identified as: tolerance, the ability to understand and accept other people’s individuality, their specificity, manipulative orientation in communication, invaluable attitude towards people, the ability not to accept herself or himself as a reference person, beyond comparison with themselves and their value preferences. Collected data are of practical importance and are significant and widely used in project activities implementation at the stage of selection, training and mentors’ support.

Актуальность развития танатологической компетентности в рамках подготовки практических психологов обусловлена социокультурным, профессиональным и индивидуально-психологическим аспектами, которые усиливаются вследствие пандемии коронавирусной инфекции. Приводится информация о зарубежном опыте реализации программ по повышению танатологической компетентности специалистов помогающих профессий (медиков, психологов, педагогов), рассмотрены данные об их эффективности и трудностях в их реализации. Отечественный опыт представлен образовательными дисциплинами в ряде высших учебных заведений и частными танатотерапевтическими курсами. В то же время ряд исследований обнаруживает актуальность развития танатологической компетентности среди будущих специалистов-психологов и запрос на включение данной проблематики в образовательную программу. В заключении автор обозначает перспективы реализации танатопсихологического направления в науке, практике и образовании. The article is devoted to the description of thanatological competence as mastering thanatological knowledge for making professional decisions in psychological practice and education. The relevance of the development of thanatological competence in the training of practical psychologists is due to the socio-cultural, professional and individual psychological aspects, which are amplified due to the coronavirus pandemic. The author provides information on the foreign experience of implementing programs to improve the thanatological competence of specialists in helping professions (doctors, psychologists, teachers), provides data on their effectiveness and difficulties in their implementation. Domestic experience is represented by educational disciplines only in some higher educational institutions and private thanatotherapy courses. At the same time, a number of studies reveal the relevance of the development of thanatological competence among future psychologists and a request to include this issue in the educational program, taking into account the coverage of the cognitive, activity and value-motivational component of thanatological issues. The main difficulties in the implementation of courses and disciplines of thanatological orientation are not only the ethical aspects of covering the issues of death in the educational program, but also the insufficient representation of research on death, dying and loss in domestic science. In conclusion, the author outlines the prospects for the implementation of the thanatopsychological direction in science, practice and educati on.

The article is devoted to the description of the psychological, pedagogical, and methodological foundations of educational testing in the framework of mastering the educational program in history. The relevance of the study is due to the widespread use of distance learning technologies, which leads to a decrease of teacher control over the students during testing, on the one hand, and an increase of students’ independent work on the other. At the same time, the authors note that tests are usually used exclusively as a control and evaluation measure, but they also contain developmental potential. The novelty of the research lies in substantiating the possibility of using the test as a method of education in the context of mastering historical disciplines. The article describes a systematic algorithm for working with the test, which provides an elaboration of each of the elements of the testing and actualization of knowledge about the mentioned events. This method contributes to the formation of stable associative links, as well as methods for analyzing information and searching for an answer using contrario reasoning. The conclusion of the article describes the possibilities of using the test as a method of learning, self-training, and education, as well as the prospects for researching the effectiveness of using “learning testing”. The authors conclude that it is necessary to develop guidelines for learning testing.