Background. Lyudmila Filippovna Obukhova (July 22, 1938 - July 20, 2016) made a great contribution to the study of the developmental psychology.

The Objective is to recreate the portrait of L.F. Obukhova retrieved from her personal memories, to identify some features of her personality, to present the most important areas of her research and teaching job in the field of developmental and general psychology, to show her grateful attitude towards parents, teachers, colleagues.

Design.The paper shows that L.F. Obukhova, after graduating from the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, Moscow Lomonosov State University, worked in the field of child psychology. She carried out a comprehensive theoretical and experimental analysis of the Geneva School of Genetic Psychology, established by the eminent Swiss psychologist J.Piaget and his followers. Being a student of P.Ya. Galperin, she worked in the wake of her teacher’s ideas, was a part of his scientific school, conducted lectures on Galperin’s theory and carried out her own research that made a significant contribution to the development of Galperin’s theory. L.F. Obukhova showed that in the stream of all psychological theories of child development, the concepts of Piaget and Galperin are the main approaches to the issue of ontogenetic development. Both of them are fruitful, but Vygotsky cultural-historical school is the most distinguished.

Results. Fruitful activities in the field of developmental psychology, the practical value of textbooks for psychology students allow us to classify L.F. Obukhov as classical Russian psychologist.

The paper presents the ideas of P.Ya. Galperin on the nature of moral behaviour and the basic patterns of internal responsibility in childhood and adolescence. Distinctive features of objective and subjective responsibility, internal and external responsibility are highlighted. It is argued that internal responsibility expresses the person’s attitude to society and social groups and might be developed only if involved in certain relations and implemented in socially useful activities, i.e. if it is significant for other people. The psychological roles of cooperation for of responsibility are compared in J. Piaget’s works and P.Ya. Galperin’s scientific theory. The research results of internal responsibility in primary school students and adolescents conducted by P.Ya. Galperin and T.V. Morozkina are discussed. The decisive role of value orientation and motivation in solving «affective type» problems and in moral behaviour is shown. According philosophy issues, responsibility is considered as a perceived necessity, which assumes a free moral choice. Three criteria of moral responsibility are introduced: the causal relationship between the subject’s behaviour and its consequence, subject’s ability to predict the possible consequences of his/her behaviour, the possibility of free choice. The psychological content of responsibility is the subject’s commitment and further response regulated by a certain system of norms and regulations on the basis of moral choice and self-regulation. The distinction between the action device and motive as the accepted moral basis for behaviour has been introduced. Accordingly, responsible behaviour is considered as willful behaviour. The genesis of strong-will behaviour is associated with social relations and moral values and is developed in the course of cooperation. Conditions of orientation in moral choice as a prerequisite for actualizing the individual’s internal responsibility are discussed.

The paper is devoted to approbating the method of negative emotion processing as the main component of the psychological support of the first-year students experiencing difficulties in adapting to university life. Many teachers associate the gradual development of intellectual activity and knowledge with teaching of school subjects. The work of P.Ya. Galperin’s disciples and followers (e.g. O.Karabanova, A.Liders, Yu.Frolov, N. Rozhdestvenskaya) showed that the scientific method is universal and can be used to develop and improve various mental properties and activities.

Using method «Perfection of Interpersonal Cognition Strategies» in psychological counseling based on P.Ya. Galperin’s theory promotes the development of adolescent reflexive mechanisms of understanding the personal characteristics of people, reducing the number of interpersonal conflicts with peers and adults, and also improving teachers’ understanding of the student personal characteristics. There are conditions under which the efficacy of mastering knowledge and cognitive skills are achieved. The educational experiment of studying the adaptation to university conditions in rural school graduates shows that mastering the cognitive processing of negative emotional experiences plays a leading role in the psychological adaptation of students. This method is an independent variable with respect to the three dependent ones, i.e. psychological adaptation in general, self-regulation of behaviour and communicative competence. The educational experiment carried out in accordance with the requirements of P.Ya. Galperin’s theory once again confirmed the high efficiency of P.Ya. Galperin’s methodology and showed that its potential capabilities are far from exhausted.

The paper is devoted to analysis of the potential of P.Ya.Galperin’s theory of gradual development of human intellectual activity for studying social cognition in children. In this area of studies the theory of gradual development of human intellectual activitycan be used to understand the child ability to manage the interpersonal situation of conflicts and to develop complex communicative skills.

There are three main areas that can employ the notions of P.Ya.Galperin’s theory. The first one relies on this method in teaching practice. The second one is devoted to the study of how social interaction in developing mental actions affects the process of gradual development of human intellectual activity and the characteristics of this activity. Within the third area, this method can be used to study the development of social knowledge in childhood.

The paper includes the examples of the experimental modeling of communicative situations as conditions for unfolding orientation processes and subsequent development of social and intellectual strategies for resolving problem in communicative situations.

The theory and method of gradual development of human intellectual activity allows to outline new directions in the research of social cognition in childhood according to three areas, namely, change of conventional practices of training communicative skills in childhood; development of the cognitive component of social emotional and communicative competence; description and elaboration of age-specific and developmental abilities to survive in complex communicative situations and plan future actions, which is a necessary condition for the development of social intelligence.

The experiments carried out within the framework of the research analysed participants’ ability to manage interpersonal relations in communicative situations. The orientational strategies used by children ib the course of the experiments were closely studied and classified.

The paper is devoted to the concept of «zone of proximal development» (ZPD). This fundamental concept is revealed in the framework of the ergative model of the subject of work and learning. The prime postulate of the model is the statement about the genetic unity of the subject of collective activity (the ergasystem) and the individual subject. The similarity of structures was followed by the cultural and historical development of homo sapiens, which occurred in the labour conditions that promoted building human relations. Generalized functions in the ergasystem and the corresponding positions can approximately be as follows: «executor», «leader», «ideologist» and «strategist».

The paper states that the subject of educational activity is represented by the same basic characteristics. At any learning stage, the teacher must judge the necessary pedagogical influences according to which subject positions to be improved. Using the ZPD toolkit, the teacher directs efforts to raise the general maturity of the learner, which will develop the ability to learn independently.

In order to verify the assumption mentioned above, the method of the teaching experiment was used, during which the students of the secondary vocational education and high school students were attending additional training courses at the Department of Further Education, The Small Academy, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Extra training courses included project or research activities of trainees, so groups of students acted both the subject of collective work and the subject of learning. The first results of the pilot experiment showed that productive work of the teacher and student can be carried out at the intersection of the subject spaces of these activities, where the boundaries of the ZPD can be outlined.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of student practical work on the theory of systematic gradual development of human intellectual activity, i.e. the fundamental psychological theory of P. Galperin. Practical work based on the gradual development of human intellectual activity is impossible without appropriate methodological base and understanding of P. Galperin’s theory, and the concept of orientational activity. The paper presents the results of student report meta-study (reports of planning, implementation and evaluation training projects based on the gradual development of human intellectual activity). The paper analyzes the themes and goals of training programs, discusses the main challenges and achievements in building a complete orienting basis and in defining the steps of gradual development of human intellectual activity, gives examples of specific difficulties faced by students in implementing the training programs. The paper demonstrates how the three model schema of gradual development of human intellectual activity is realized in students’ projects: from the psychological through the psychological-pedagogical to methodical, or technological, i.e. «real educational situation» models. Based on the meta-analysis of students’ reports the possibilities to explore the concept of orientation activity in training programs is shown.

In order to determine the correlational relations mentioned in the title here above, a number of experiments with school students have been carried out. They included knowledge instruction on the basis of Galperin’s types of learning on three school subjects (history, biology, geometry); checking the level of logical thinking by means of solving a number of tasks that include basic logical operations such as categorization, generalization, classification, deductive conclusions, finding of analogies and equalizing of variables; estimation of the development level of abilities for searching solutions of insight problems by the results of solving five such problems taken from the set of tasks used in researches on creative thinking; appraisal of the development level of creativity by using the subtest “sketches” in Guilford’s technique.

The sample included 132 school students of the 7th grades from Yekaterinburg schools, Russia. The obtained data were processed statistically using Pearson and Spearman coefficients. Concerning the correlations studied, the following results have been received.

The effectiveness of 1st type of learning is strongly connected with the development of logical thinking (r=0,54), is moderately connected with the ability to solve convergent problems (r=0,34) and is not connected with the ability to solve creative divergent tasks. The effectiveness of 2nd type of learning is connected with the level of logical operations development (r=0,29 for facts and r=0,57 for proofs) and is not connected with the ability to solve convergent and divergent problems. The effectiveness of the 3rd type of learning does not deal with solving convergent tasks, is hardly connected with flexibility (r=0,25) and ingenuity (r=0,21) of solving creative tasks, and even less the 2nd type of learning is connected with logical development when logically complex knowledge is assumed (r=0,48). The established ties give grounds to suggest that the use of the 1st type of learning should develop the abilities for solving insight problems and should not develop creativity in course of instruction, the 2nd type of learning has potential of logical operations development; the 3rd

The paper is dedicated to the 115th birthday of P.Ya.Galperin, the classic of national psychology (1902-2017). The purpose of the paper is to showP.Ya.Galperin’s contribution to fundamental and practiceoriented science, and alsoto revealthe link between these two approaches sides in his scientific heritage. The gist of his innovative psychological theory is disclosed. The key methodological principlesare highlighted: understanding of the scope and method of psychological science; psychophysical issue, i.e. the nature of psyche and the mental world; a psychophysiological problem, the issue of the relationship between psychology and physiology; the issue of human instincts in connection with historical social nature of consciousness; the notion of linguistic consciousness and the relation of language and thought; the principle of unity of history and theory in scientific knowledge. Terminological work carried out by P. Ya.Galperin is analyzed. The introduction of new concepts enriches and makes the conceptual apparatus of psychological sciencemore precise. The necessity to reveal each methodological provision to solve practical problemsis mentioned. The unity of theoretical and practical aspects in psychological theory developed by P. Ya. Galperin, its authentic nature and relation to the culturalhistorical psychology of L.S.Vygotsky, activity concepts of S.L. Rubinstein and A.N. Leontiev are shown. There are several directions in which the method of gradual development of mental functions and concepts organizes the process of teaching and learning, the mechanisms of perceptionand simultaneous mental processes, the phenomena of Jean Piaget are explained. To sum up, the inexhaustible possibilities of the practical use of the theory of P.Ya. Galperin in all areas of individual experience.

The paper contains the description of Pyotr Ya. Galperin’s scientific biography stages. P.Ya. Galperin (1902–1988) is an outstanding Russian psychologist, the founder of an original psychological concept. The paper shows how P.Ya. Galperin’s scientific views were logically developing when he was working on the theory of gradual development of human intellectual activity that analyzes the process of constructing basic components of mental activity and creates the conditions for transforming the action into a psychological phenomenon.

The biography is compiled on the basis of publications and talks of P.Ya. Galperin, the memories of colleagues and friends, using numerous archives. By now, only the main events in the life of a scientist have been marked. The paper presents the data that could be verified by referring to P.Yа. Galperin’s CV and data of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, stored in the Archive of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and P.Yа. Galperin’s science archive passed by the grandson Yakov I. Abramson to the Archive of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The family archives failed to survive because of the frequent relocation, and P.Ya. Galperin did not write a detailed autobiography, so the task of clarifying the facts of his biography is relevant.

All periods of P.Ya. Galperin’s scientific creative life are presented, his participation in scientific and practical events starting with the mid-1920s is mentioned. The 1930- 1940s are the most difficult years for event recovery. 55 years of professional and personal life (from 1943 and until his death in 1988) are associated with Lomonosov Moscow State University, therefore the focus is on P.Ya. Galperin as an outstanding Professor of Moscow University, i.e. the author of the original theory of the orientating nature and function of human mind, the organizing force in psychology. 

The conclusion highlights how the modern scholars are preserving the scientific heritage of P.Ya. Galperin.

Celebrating the 115th anniversary birth of P.Ya. Galperin, an outstanding Russian scientist, and paying tribute to his contribution in general psychology, genetic psychology and teacher-training psychology, it is necessary to emphasize Galperin’s unique approach to the essence of mental phenomena and processes, to the mechanisms and development that reverberate the internal integrity and systemic approach. There are at least, three main directions of P.Ya. Galperin’s concept, i.e. his system of psychology. The first direction is the method of gradual development of intellectual activity for studying human mental activity. The second direction is the study of the theoretically described and actually implemented process of gradual development of intellectual activity as a psychological reality. The third direction is the gradual development of intellectual activity in the practice of teaching.

This paper is devoted to the strategic issues of implementing gradual development of intellectual activity. The significance of these assumptions for practical training, not in a laboratory experiment, but in the mass version, paradoxically requires a far deeper and broader understanding of mechanisms of the human mental activity than academic laboratory research. The reasons for the relatively limited use of Galperin’s theory are considered in the practice of training. Further development of psychology along the path outlined by P.Ya. Galperin aimed at enhancing practical capabilities of the theoretical approach is being highlighted.

The article analyses the present status of the gradual formation of mental actions theory developed by famed Russian psychologist P.Y.Galperin. It discusses practical application of the theory in the field of education.

The article is devoted to the 110th anniversary of the birth of great Russian psychologist Peter Yakovlevich Galperin and the 40th anniversary of the widespread introduction of his planned approach to development of conceptual mental activity in the theory and practice of education and training of the Armed Forces of the USSR and the Russian Federation. The contribution of the scientist to the development of national military psychology in the optimization process of training and education of military employees is emphasized.

Report of P.Y. Galperin “The problem of ontogenesis of the human psyche” Peter Yakovlevich Galperin’s report at the seminar in methodological issues, directed by A.N. Leontiev on March 24, 1976