Psychological thought has been developing at Moscow University since its very foundation. In the 18th century, psychology was not yet an independent discipline and was studied by scholars from various fields — philosophy, physiology, medicine, and biology. Its roots go back to the founder of our Alma Mater, Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (1711–1765).
Initially, psychology was not taught as a separate subject. Psychological topics were included in philosophy courses — logic, metaphysics, and moral philosophy — delivered at the Faculty of Philosophy. Among the early lecturers were Professor Johann Gottlieb Frommann from the University of Tübingen (1756–1764), and later Russian professors Dmitry Anichkov (1733–1788) and his student Alexey Bryantsev (1749–1821).
Around the same period, the Russian Psychological Society was established at the Imperial Moscow University. It is now regarded as one of the oldest psychological societies in the world. Its charter was approved by the University Council and the Ministry of Public Education on July 15, 1884, and the first meeting of the Society took place on January 24, 1885.
From its foundation, the Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University has served as a centre of major scientific discoveries in the field. Prominent scholars have laid the methodological and research foundations of psychological science and practice.
Alexey Nikolaevich Leontiev (February 5, 1903 – January 21, 1979)
Soviet psychologist, founder of the cultural–historical theory in psychology and the general psychological theory of activity. Head of the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow State University (1951), and the first Dean of the Faculty of Psychology (1966). Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences (1940), Professor, Full Member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR, Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Honorary Doctor of the Universities of Paris and Budapest.
Alexander Romanovich Luria (July 16, 1902 – August 14, 1977)
Professor (1944), Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences (1937), Doctor of Medical Sciences (1943), Full Member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR (1947) and of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR (1967). From 1968 to 1977, he headed the Department of Neuro- and Pathopsychology at the Faculty of Psychology of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Luria is regarded as one of the most outstanding Russian psychologists. Throughout more than fifty years of scientific work, he made major contributions to various fields of psychology and founded a new discipline — neuropsychology. Author of over 500 scientific publications.
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Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky (November 5, 1896 - June 11, 1934)
Soviet psychologist and founder of the research tradition that became known from the 1930s as the cultural–historical theory of higher psychological functions. Author of more than 270 scholarly works, as well as publications in literary theory, pedology, and child cognitive development. The group of researchers inspired by his ideas became known as the “Vygotsky–Luria Circle” (or “Vygotsky Circle”). From 1929 to 1931, Vygotsky headed the Psychological Laboratory at the Clinic of Nervous Diseases of the First Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov.
Bluma Vulfovna Zeigarnik (November 9, 1900 - February 24, 1988)
Psychologist, Doctor of Psychological Sciences (1960), Professor (1965). From 1943 to 1967, she headed the Laboratory of Pathopsychology at the Research Institute of Psychiatry of the Ministry of Health of the RSFSR, while simultaneously teaching at Lomonosov Moscow State University (since 1949). Bluma Zeigarnik was among the founders of the Faculty of Psychology and of the Department of Neuro- and Pathopsychology at MSU. For over forty years, she studied mental disorders and founded a new scientific field — experimental pathopsychology. In 1978, Professor Zeigarnik was awarded the Lomonosov Prize (1st Degree).
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Piotr Yakovlevich Galperin (October 2, 1902 – March 25, 1988)
Prominent Russian psychologist. Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences in Psychology (1965), Professor (1967), Honoured Scientist of the RSFSR (1980), and posthumous Laureate of the Presidential Prize of the Russian Federation in Education (1999). From 1943 until his death, he worked at Lomonosov Moscow State University: Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy (1943–1967), Professor at the Faculty of Psychology (1967), Head of the Department of Child (Developmental) Psychology (1971–1983), and Consultant Professor (from 1983). Galperin proposed the theory of stage-by-stage formation of mental actions and developed new perspectives on fundamental problems of psychology.
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (August 1, 1829 – November 2, 1905)
Renowned psychologist and physiologist. Honoured Professor of Moscow University (1896), Doctor of Medicine (1860). He taught at Moscow University from 1876 to 1901. In the 1890s, Sechenov turned to problems of psychophysiology and epistemology. He was Corresponding Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1869) and Honorary Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences (1904). Sechenov advanced the concept of specific brain reflexes and introduced ideas that paved the way for later research on brain function. His studies also addressed gas exchange physiology, respiratory functions of blood, and lung air composition.
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Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko (August 10, 1931 – February 7, 2014)
Distinguished Russian psychologist and one of the founders of engineering psychology and ergonomics in Russia. Graduate of the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Lomonosov Moscow State University (1953). PhD in Psychology (1957), Doctor of Psychological Sciences (1966), Professor (1969), Academician of the Russian Academy of Education (1992). He served as Academic Secretary of the Division of Psychology and Developmental Physiology of the RAE (1991–1998). Founder and Head (1970–1982) of the Department of Labour and Engineering Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology, MSU. Author of over 400 scientific publications.
Daniil Borisovich Elkonin (February 16, 1904 – October 4, 1984)
One of the prominent Soviet psychologists belonging to the world-renowned Vygotsky School. He developed an original scientific approach in child and educational psychology. From 1953, he worked at the Institute of Psychology, heading laboratories of child psychology, adolescent psychology, and diagnostic assessment of mental development. He defended his doctoral dissertation in 1962 and became a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR in 1968. For many years, he taught at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow University. Elkonin authored several monographs and numerous scientific articles on the theory and history of childhood, its stages, and the mental development of children of different ages.
