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.

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.