On November 22, psychologists celebrate a professional holiday. Lyudmila Aksenovskaya, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology, SSU, Chair of the Department of Social Psychology, Chair of the Saratov Regional Branch of the Russian Psychological Society, tells about the history and modernity of psychological education at Saratov State University.
– Lyudmila Nikolaevna, how is Psychologists Day celebrated at the faculty?
– For many years we celebrated it in different ways, but last year we laid a new tradition - the Day of Practical Psychology. Several of our graduates, who work as consulting psychologists, and our colleagues - clinical psychologists from Saratov State Medical University – conducted a series of master classes. This project was very successful, the lecture hall gathered more than 250 listeners. We organized it under the auspices of the emerging Association of Graduates of the Faculty of Psychology. This year we will also hold several master classes in counseling, organizational and legal psychology. People who have been working in these areas for many years will share their experience. We expect that our audience will be everyone who is interested in psychology and psychological practice.
– How did psychological education develop at Saratov University?
– We identify three stages in the development of psychological education and psychological science at our university. The first stage, probably the most significant for us, was in 1917, when the first dean of the Faculty of History and Philology, Semyon Ludvigovich Frank, began lecturing on social psychology at the university. A year later, he invited his colleague, Professor Augustus Adolfovich Krogius, to the SSU.
To say that Krogius is a very famous psychologist is to say nothing. He laid the foundations of Russian typhlopsychology – the psychology of the blind. August Adolfovich is an extremely important, iconic, authoritative figure, he is a direct disciple of Wilhelm Wundt, the creator of experimental scientific psychology. I think this is an extremely important moment for our university. Frank and Krogius laid the standards and foundations of psychological science at Saratov University. The participation of such specialists in the life of the university puts us on a par not only with the best domestic, but also with the best world psychological schools.
Later, the attitude towards psychology in the country changed, and science gradually dissolved into the university. Psychologists led a "semi-nomadic" lifestyle, moving from faculty to faculty, joining various humanities departments and entering into cooperation with various scientific disciplines.
The second stage, equally significant and revolutionary, began in 1971. Then the head of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy, Professor Lev Petrovich Doblaev opened the Department of Psychology as part of the Faculty of Biology. Since then, our university has started to produce certified psychologists.
The Department of Psychology migrated from the Faculty of Biology to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and then became part of the new Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology. The event that we consider the third revolution was the division of the faculty in 2010 into two independent ones: the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Psychology.
– In what fields do graduates of the Faculty of Psychology work?
– There are many bachelor's and master's degree programs at our faculty. One of the most popular master's programs is "Counseling Psychology". Many students want to engage in psychological counseling, work in medical and psychological centers or as private practicing psychologists. Counseling psychologists are also trained under the program "Positive psychological counseling".
Another sought–after specialty is "Legal Psychology". Our graduates, legal psychologists, work in law enforcement agencies, in the Federal Customs Service, in the courts, in the army, in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Organizational psychology is gaining popularity. I am in charge of two master's programs in the fields of Organizational Psychology and Order Technologies in Psychology. Order technology is a technology for managing organizational culture. Graduates of the program work in human resources management services, recruitment agencies, often occupy senior positions, become business coaches and psychodiagnostics.
Graduates of the Cross-Cultural Psychology program are specialists who work in the state system. They are engaged in solving problems related to interethnic and interfaith situations.
Two programs that are at the peak of modern intellectual fashions are Cognitive Psychology, dedicated to the study of cognitive processes, and Cyberpsychology. We opened the second program in 2017 at the same time as Moscow State University. However, we pay more attention to personal information security in the digital environment.
We try to be at the forefront in the development of psychology in our country.
– Lyudmila Nikolaevna, you are the author of the order concept of organizational culture, which includes sotering technology. What is this scientific direction?
– The order concept considers culture as a socio-psychological order of interactions in a group. These interactions that we engage in may be of a different nature. People can cooperate, compete, or avoid communication. Our task is to bring people within the organization to a state of cooperation so that they are more coordinated, successfully and effectively achieve their goals.
The order theory says that we are guided by ethical meanings. According to the formula of the American philosopher Richard Thomas De George, "morality directs the interaction of intelligent beings." The order concept teaches to coordinate the ethical meanings of the participants in the interaction.
In the order model of organizational culture, three main aspects are distinguished, which are generated by the types of interaction between the leader and the team: "family", "army" and "church". A good leader should be both a parent, a commander and a shepherd. A good culture should be able to accept a person into its composition as a "family", as an "army" should set a goal for him and as a "church" – be able to explain the meaning of all his efforts. The main goal of the order concept is to bring people to agreement and cooperation.
Sotering has turned out to be one of the most in-demand order technologies, as it easily flows from the management sphere to any other. This is a self-rescue technology, which is why it is so relevant. People are interested in how they can help themselves out in stressful situations, before some difficult test, when solving some difficult task. This is a technology to increase personal effectiveness. Usually, in two trainings, people master self-management algorithms. Basically, sotering is used to manage culture at the level of the leader's personality. The elements of this technology are well received by schoolchildren – students of the School of a young psychologist.
– Statistics show that the number of people who turn to psychologists is growing every year. Why is this happening, and what does it say about our psychological culture?
– I believe that this is due to the information coverage. A lot of attention is now being paid to various psychological areas and services. Many books on psychology are published, films and TV series about psychologists appear in popular culture, and many psychologists become media.
The psychologist has ceased to be a mysterious figure. In my youth, people did not distinguish between the profession of a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Now the situation has changed. Every school has a psychologist, which was not the case before.
Now people treat going to a psychologist as the same service that can be obtained from a doctor, especially we are talking about counseling psychology. Almost everyone can have a personal psychologist. Some of our students have been undergoing therapy since their school years, and I am pleased to know that psychologists have helped them, left pleasant impressions and motivated them to study psychology professionally.
– How can you improve your psychological culture?
– Our faculty has the Regional Centre for Practical Psychology, where everyone can "pump up" the necessary skills during training and therapeutic trainings: develop communication skills, learn how to manage themselves, increase personal effectiveness. In addition, our psychologist, associate professor of the Department of General and Counselling Psychology Tatyana Udalova provides free consultations for students and staff of SSU.
– Does the profession of a psychologist change over time?
– Always. Psychologists are constantly looking for ways to do their work more effectively so that they can get the necessary changes in a person's condition faster and more reliably. Psychological support of any processes is now not only desirable, it is becoming extremely necessary.
– A psychologist – who is this?
– Psychologists are people who have one passion – they are interested in people. Psychologists just love people. Although people are different and not always friendly, this love conquers everything. Probably, this is a tendency to see the good in people, to help them find this good and make it a fulcrum inside themselves. From my point of view, a psychologist is a treasure hunter who searches for a treasure in a person's soul and helps to master this treasure.
Text by Polina Gromova
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
