НЕВРОЦЕПЦИЯ ЗА ПСИХИЧНА БЕЗОПАСНОСТ– ЕМПИРИЧНА ПРОВЕРКА НА ПОЛИВАГУСНАТА ТЕОРИЯ
NEUROCEPTION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY:EMPIRICAL TESTING OF THE POLYVAGAL THEORY

Summary/Abstract: The crisis in stress research observed at the end of the last century provoked the interest of psychologists in the study of psychological safety as a key to mental health, psychological well-being and post-traumatic growth. Probably the most infl uential among the theories that emerged is the Polyvagal Theory, called by its creator - the science of safety. The research question we pose is how a theory based on scientifi c achievements of neurobiology and neurophysiology integrates with the existing research in classical academic psychology. Is the absence of high levels of stress a suffi cient condition for us to feel safe? A successful adaptation of the Neuroception of Psychological Safety Scale (Morton et al., 2022) is presented, and in contrast to the original version and the three adaptations known to us in Italian (Poli, Miccoli, 2024; Spinoni et al., 2024) and Ukrainian samples (Romanovskaya et al., 2024), a four-factor solution was obtained: Body Sensations; Compassion, and the fi rst factor of Social Engagement forms two subscales Social Engagement related to others and Social Engagement related to close relationships, which suggests cross-cultural specifi cs. The other methods are the World Assumptions Scale (Janoff -Bulman, 1989, 1996), the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (Mеyer et al., 1990), the Ruminative Response Scale (Nolen Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991), the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), and the Constructive Thinking Inventory (Epstein, 1998, 2014). The study was conducted in the period November - December 2024 with 118 subjects. The results show that with an increase in the neuroception of psychological safety, the level of perceived daily stress decreases (r = - 0.593, p < 0.001) and the accompanying perseverative cognitions - worries (r = - 0.473, p < 0.001) and ruminations (r = - 0.553, p < 0.01), and we do not fi nd a relationship between one of the components of psychological safety namely Compassion and the experience of stress and perseverative cognitions. The neuroception of psychological safety is associated with more pronounced constructive thinking (r = 0.367, p < 0.001) and more frequent use of constructive strategies: behavioral (r = 0.461, p < 0.001) and emotional coping (r = 0.452, p < 0.001). The neuroception of psychological safety is also associated with more optimistic basic beliefs about the world and others as benevolent (r = 0.414, p < 0.001) and the self-worth (r = 0.433, p < 0.001)), but not that the world is meaningful, which confi rms the main role of social connectedness as a central component of the neuroception of psychological safety. The results allow verifi cation of the hypothesis that the absence of stress is an important, but not suffi cient condition for feeling safe. Social engagement and compassion are a central component of the neuroception of safety which allow us to have more optimistic beliefs in our assumptive world, to use more constructive coping strategies, to have less perseverative cognitions and lower and more manageable levels of stress. The results and their interpretation are among the fi rst that allow the assumption that the polyvagal theory successfully explains important aspects of the mental regulation of behavior and can be accepted as a grand theory incorporating various mental concepts including stress.

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