Российская психология в пространстве мировой науки

The Moscow faculty was definitely the main one, the largest, receiving maximum governmental support, and Yaroslavl faculty was very closely connected with it. From 1951 to 1979 A. N. Leontiev was head of the department and then of the faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. He greatly promoted scientific life of the faculty and also the development of Psychology in Russia, and his theoretical approach is definitely a brilliant one – but the fact is that under his leadership no other approach was welcomed, so that for more than 30 years the whole team of the main psychological faculty in Russia was developing Leontiev's theoretical approach, with more or less sincere faith and inspiration.

Leontiev's theory was much discussed after his death and is still discussed, and the discussions reflect many personal attitudes (Leontiev et al., 2005; Zinchenko, 2003; Galperin, 1983; Materials of MSU, 2012).

Leontiev's theory was also the only one that had a good chance to be known outside Russia after the World War II. In 1954, when Stalin died, new possibilities for contacts with foreign colleagues opened. In 1954 a Soviet delegation was sent to the XIV International Psychological Congress which was held in Canada (Montreal). The delegation was headed by A. N. Leontiev. It was the first – after almost a thirty-year break – visit of the Soviet scientists to an international congress. After that Leontiev headed Soviet delegations to the XV, XVI, XVII international congresses on psychology. He was the authorized leader of Soviet psychology. Works of Leontiev were repeatedly republished in translations into English, Armenian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Vietnamese, Danish, Spanish (Argentina, Spain, Cuba), Italian, Chinese, German (GDR and Germany), Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Finnish, French, Czech, and Japanese.

Unfortunately few of the works of other theorists had their chance to become known outside Russia. That is the case with the brilliant theory of B. G Ananiev.

"The Leningrad school of Psychology". B. G. Ananiev: the Impact of Individual Activity on Psycho-Physiological Functions

The ideas of Rubinstein and Vygotsky on the self-determination of human development and on the impact of higher mental processes on psycho-physiological functions, neglected by Leontiev, found their full realization and were creatively advanced by Boris G. Ananiev who founded the Faculty of Psychology of Leningrad State University which was opened in 1966, same year as the MStU faculty.

It has been already mentioned above that there were only three universities in Russia, with psychology faculties: Moscow (MStU), Yaroslavl (an old Russian city near Moscow), where the faculty was developing in close contact with and under the strong influence of Moscow University (YarStU), and Leningrad University (LStU). Before Perestroika, in the "classic" Soviet period, in Moscow University and in Yaroslavl they taught and developed Leontiev theory, while in the Leningrad University Ananiev theory was taught and developed.

The opposition of the so called "Leningrad school" (Ananiev' school" or "Rubinstein-Ananiev' school, as it is sometimes referred to) to the "Moscow school" ("Leontiev' school") in psychology is generally acknowledged in Russia, though hardly mentioned in printed matter. But the fact that the Leningrad school was highly esteemed in the professional community can be illustrated by the following examples. After Leontiev died in 1979, Alexei A. Bodalev (1923–2014) from Leningrad, who was occupying the position of the Dean of the LStU faculty at that time, was taken on to the position of the MStU faculty Dean. Another fact is that when the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPRAS) was organized in Moscow in 1971, Boris F. Lomov (1927–1989) from the LStU faculty, a close disciple of B. G. Ananiev, was invited to head it.

It should be noted that nowadays IPRAS – in contrast to the MStU and the Psychological Institute RAO in Moscow – is known to continue the "Leningrad tradition", and this tradition, partly opposing the Leontiev tradition, is gaining more and more influence in the Russian professional community. When in 2009 IPRAS held a conference dedicated to the 120th anniversary of S. L. Rubinstein, more than 400 people from all over Russia came to take part, and six volumes of the conference materials were published (fully available on site of IPRAS in pdf: http://www.ipras.ru/cntnt/rus/top_menu_rus/trudy_instl/psihologiy3.html).

The key issue in the works of B. G. Ananiev was the impact of personality aspirations and individual's activities (mostly professional activities) on psycho-physiological functions, which was considered as individual self-determination of psycho-physiological development.

Ananiev formulated a number of theoretical models which were verified in wide-scale experiments: