Abstract: Despite the fact that L. S. Vygotsky is a prominent figure in the history of Russian psychology due to the unique contribution to the development of scientific thought and organization of work of the new scientific center, the research group under his authority becomes the subject of a separate research for the first time. This article discusses the results of biographical analysis based on the historical-psychological sources, published testimonies of his contemporaries, such as memoirs, conversations and interviews, scientific autobiographies, transcripts of speeches, biographical articles, and published archival materials. The novelty of the implemented by the author research approach consists in reference to the research activity of L. S. Vygotsky and his scientific school from the perspective of theory of the collective. It is determined that due to the work in different institutions and different goals of research activity, the group of scholars under the authority of L. S. Vygotsky cannot be defined as a collective. The leader of Soviet psychology and defectology was a head of several interrelated research groups: since 1924 at the premises of the Institute of Experimental Psychology, since 1929 – the Experimental Institute of Defectology and the Academy of Communist Education named after N. K. Krupskaya, since 1932 – the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine. In order to manage the effective research work of the groups, L. S. Vygotsky applied his creative, pedagogical and organizational skills. The scholar implemented a democratic management approach based on the uniformity of administration, cognition, and communication. L. S. Vygotsky’s scientific school was united by a progressive experimental and practice-oriented research program, sensitive to the public needs in building the theory and system of psychological assistance in the USSR.

Abstract: The authors of the present research defines the problem of social determination of the historical development of Russian practical psychology. Based on the material of the history of main currents of Russian practical psychology's development in the first half of the XX century the author proposes the historical-scientific solution of the aforesaid problem. The authors also give a brief description of the main modern approaches to defining conditions, prerequisites, factors and results of the social determination of the pedagogical, psychoanalytical and psychotechnical movements of the 1920's - early 1930's. The authors present the results of the empirical research of what has determined the development and crisis of those movements in the first half of the XXth century using such methods of historical and psychological research as the analysis of research findings, biographical and bibliographical analysis, historical and psychological reconstruction and development of the classification of historical stages. The authors describe the main social conditions for developing research and practical movements: 1) Soviet science policy; 2) public demand for practice-oriented researches in industrial, ideological, social and administrative spheres. For the first time in he academic literature the authors describe the main mechanism of the social determination of the development of research and practical movements of the Soviet psychology, institutionalization. The authors define specific features of the Soviet research policy towards practical psychology, its ambivalent nature and role for de-institutionalization processes (elimination of research centers, specific print media, etc.). The authors also offer their own classification of stages of research and practical movements in the Russian psychology of the first half of the XXth century taking into account the social environment. 
 

Abstract: The authors of the article define the problem of the relation between fundamental, applied and practical branches of psychology. Based on the analysis of V.A. Koltsova, T.D. Martsinkovskaya, O.G. Noskova, T. Leahy, R. Smith and other Russian and foreign historians, the authors provide the overview of the history of formation and development of applied and practical trends in psychology, especially pedology and psychotechnics. For the analysis of the historical-scientific and methodological patterns, the authors use the dynamic model of the relationship between theoretical psychology and social practice through the development of applied psychology developed by L.S. Vygotsky. More recent periods of relations between Russian fundamental psychology and psychological practice are viewed based on the conceptual grounds offered by A.L. Zhuravlev, D.V. Ushakov, A.G. Liders and I.N. Karitsky. The opportunities to distinguish applied and practical branches of psychology in the practical activity of psychologists are revealed so is the concept of role-playing ring proposed by Y.M. Zhukov. As a result, the structure of the relationship between subject and object of psychological activity is determined as an important base of classification of these branches. Historical analysis of the development of practical and applied branches of psychology in the first half of the XX century allows us to formulate a hypothesis about the singleness of the basic patterns of their development.