Psychological Readiness for Innovative Activity: Experimental Study of Youth''s Innovativeness in Russia''s Small Cities
The necessity of studying the issues related to the youth's innovative activity in a small city is substantiated; the essence of the concept 'psychological readiness for innovative activity' is revealed, it is considered (in the context of youth in small cities) as a subject's activity on the creation and realization of innovations to achieve the positive results, and this activity is a measure of success, in the interaction with the socio-economic conditions of a small city in a certain period of development. The structure of the specialist's personality able to the innovative activity implementation within a small city is described while there are some common qualities (motivation of self-realization and success achieving, creativity, developed logical and critical thinking; reflexivity, conscious self-regulation activities) and specific ones, typical for the innovators of a small town: ethno-cultural tolerance, the province characteristics and traditions knowing; developed leadership; communicative and information competence; high internality; emotional stability, reasonable self-esteem). The analysis of testing results of school pupils and students living in small cities is undertaken; it was carried out according to the technique by N. M. Lebedeva and A. N. Tatarko; the differences in the level of innovativeness defined with gender and age factors are investigated.