Within the framework of the article, the authors, having formulated interethnic interaction in a complexly organized Russian society as an object of research, and the subject – the state of interethnic relations in the Sverdlovsk region in the context of the transformation of the geopolitical architecture, explore the state of interethnic relations through the prism of a number of indicators reflecting a range of internal and external attitudes, reflecting objective, and in some cases, subjective and stereotypical perception socio-political and ethnic reality. The list of indicators used includes tracking political and socio-economic news, assessing changes in the political and economic spheres of society in the context of a significantly changed geopolitical architecture, as well as prospects for strengthening ties with Asian countries. A separate block of indicators used reflects the degree of formation of the all-Russian civic identity, the degree of positive perception of the ethnic diversity of Russian society, as well as the level and degree of xenophobic sentiments towards other nationalities, including those who arrived in the territory of the Sverdlovsk region as migrant workers or students. The authors note that more than half of the respondents stand on the positions of intolerance and xenophobia, which is the basis for improving the methods of internal state policy, as well as strengthening preventive measures aimed at preventing the emergence of interethnic conflicts. Against this background, the results of the study record a high proportion of those who note the need to preserve traditional spiritual and moral values.

Self-preservation behavior in the social sciences is understood as purposeful actions of people to preserve and promote health. The work is devoted to the study of self-preservation behavior among students of Kemerovo State Medical University.

The article presents the results of a qualitative sociological study conducted using the focus group method, which will help to understand the features of self-preservation behavior of medical students, identify the causes of violations of the principles of a healthy lifestyle among future doctors. The subject of the study: the state of health of students, the practice of forming self-protective behavior, factors of a healthy lifestyle, the attitude of students to the professional risks of a doctor.

The study showed that medical students, understanding the importance of self-preservation behavior now and in later professional life, being aware of the effects of bad habits and factors leading to health disorders, nevertheless, are not motivated enough to preserve and strengthen their health and avoid risks. At the same time, most of the focus group participants believe that doctors and medical students should be an example, a standard for others, promoting a healthy lifestyle in society by their behavior.

Among the reasons for non-compliance with the principles of self-preservation behavior by students of a medical university are the lack of time caused by an intense academic load, a busy schedule, lack of physical and moral strength after study for regular sports, rational nutrition, outdoor walks, etc., which negatively affects students' own health.

The paper presents a brief overview of scientific views on the problem of cognitive distortions, and analyzes modern psychological literature in the field of Barnum effect research. In modern science, the Barnum effect is understood as a person's tendency to perceive rather vague and generalized descriptions as reliable if (as he believes) they were compiled individually for him. The subject of the study is the psychological characteristics of the Barnum effect as a socially conditioned cognitive distortion. The scientific methods used were a review of classical approaches to the problem of cognitive distortions, an analysis of modern psychological publications devoted to the Barnum effect, a discussion and generalization of the obtained data. The results of the study record that the necessary conditions for the emergence of the Barnum effect are generalized statements containing positive characteristics, an unclear method for the individual to compose these statements, obtained from an authoritative source, and belief in the writing of these statements personally for him. The conclusions of the work note that personal awareness of this kind of cognitive distortions, critical analysis of emerging situations, awareness and acceptance of possible personal cognitive distortions can contribute to the adequacy of assessing information and making informed decisions.

Within the framework of the article, based on the corpus of sources presented by operational and investigative materials formed during the investigation of the two most high-profile and resonant attacks on educational institutions in Russian regions, followed by the mass shooting of students and teachers, the author's interpretation of the motives of mass murderers through the prism of approaches used in clinical psychology is proposed. The features of behavior, attitudes, a system of views and values, as well as ideas and ideas voiced in the anamnesis were analyzed. To reconstruct the dynamics of views, a historical and genetic approach was used to identify the starting point of the genesis and development of destructiveness. Based on the classification nomenclature of persons suffering from personality disorder (psychopathy) developed by the classic of Russian psychiatry, a profound specialist and taxonomist P. B. Gannushkin, such forms of psychopathy as asthenia, paranoia, epileptoidism and antisocial were identified, such forms of psychopathy as asthenia, paranoia, epileptoidism and antisocial psychopathy were identified in two mass murderers, conditionally named by the authors of the article mass murderer-1 (MU-1) and mass murderer-2 (MU-2), who killed a total of 15 people who fell alive into the hands of law enforcement agencies who found themselves in the dock and those sentenced to capital punishment – life imprisonment. In MU-1, the identified problems were seriously complicated by a benign tumor – angioma of the frontal lobe of the brain. Both mass murderers were diagnosed with a fascination with the ideas of peeplehating and the presence of suicidal tendencies.

The subject of the study is the peculiarities of the functioning of English and Russian verbs with the general meaning of «lying on the terrain, bordering on other objects», revealed in local situations of description of fragments of space with the implementation of the semantic feature «dense/closed border». It is shown that the actualization of this semantic feature occurs under the condition of the presence in the structure of the local situation of multi-part-of-speech means of localization, the semantic functions of which are aimed at conveying the multi-level fragmentation of the spatial scene and which, by their compatibility in the general semantic volume of the local situation, contribute to or hinder the actualization of the semantic feature «density of the environment». The linguistic material was obtained by the method of continuous sampling from lexicographic sources and texts using the techniques of component, contextual and comparative analysis.

As a result of the conducted research, the priority role of the observer's figure with the implementation of the following components was revealed: explicit or implicit presence within the reference scene; direction of gaze when constructing spatial perspective; position of inclusion in the environment of the described fragments of space and the objects filling it, bordering each other. It is noted that a typical model of a local situation in which verbs actualize the semantic feature of «dense/closed boundary», and different-part-of-speech units cumulatively form conditions for the implementation of the additional semantic component «density of the environment», is the location of the observer inside this environment, or his position coincides with the boundary of the observed natural object. The novelty of the work consists in the practical study of the theoretical aspects of the nomination of spatial relations in language in terms of the designation of dense boundaries by verbs with an emphasis on the conditions for the implementation of the semantic features «dense/ closed boundary» and «density of the environment» in conditions formed by the combined functioning of different parts of speech participants in a local situation.

The subject of the study is the functional features of communicative tasks used in the study of English-language medical text to ensure adequate understanding by students of the general meaning and detailed professionally oriented information embedded in the structure of the text. The object of the study is communicative tasks aimed at developing students’ oral speech skills, implemented in an interactive format in the context of working with an educational text with a different number of participants. The communicative potential of tasks constructed taking into account different volumes of conceptual content of the medical text of the textbook in English for future doctors is demonstrated. To carry out the study, the experience of using communicative tasks in the pedagogical process that simulate situations of professionally oriented communication based on an English-language medical text was critically analyzed, examples of tasks with different communicative potential were selected. The relevance of the study is to find effective technologies for teaching professionally oriented communication in the process of studying the content of a foreign-language medical text.

As a result of the study, it was revealed that there is no unambiguous relationship between the volume of the discussed text or its part and the volume of the communicative task with the linguistic and conceptual tasks embedded in it. The main criterion for assessing the communicative potential of a task is its multifunctionality, flexibility in application and situationality, and the possibility of expanding the directions of communication. The scientific novelty consists of an attempt to analyze the potential of using situationally oriented communicative tasks in the process of working on the content of an English-language medical text in terms of creating conditions that contribute to the effective development of foreign language communicative skills of a future doctor.