Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich (see photo below) - Russian psychologist and doctor, student of V. M. Bekhterev. He is the author of characterology. This is a psychological concept of individual differences, which are considered in close interaction with the functioning of nerve centers. Alexander Fedorovich was one of the first to study the personality in vivo of the subject's life. The article will present a biography of the scientist.
Study
Alexander Fedorovich Lazursky was born in the city of Pereyaslavl (Poltava province) in 1874. The boy's family was not rich. Sasha studied at the Lubyanka Grammar School, where he graduated with a gold medal. After the young man submitted documents to the Military Medical Academy. Having entered, Lazursky took up psychology. Under the guidance of V. M. Bekhterev, Alexander began the study of nervous and mental diseases, having received excellent neurophysiological and neuroanatomical training. Also, the student conducted a lot of independent research.
Job
In 1895, the hero of this article got into a psychiatric laboratory. There, Alexander investigated the problems of clinical psychophysiology and experimental psychology. In parallel, Lazursky studied the theory of temperament and character, and also conducted an analysis with the goal of creating their classifications. As a result, the student realized that this section of human psychology is not yet sufficiently developed.
In 1897, Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich successfully graduated from the academy and remained working at the Ankylosing spondylitis, where he was engaged in medical practice and headed the laboratory. Two years later, he entered the St. Petersburg Society of Psychiatrists as a full member. By this time, Alexander had already passed more than 20 exams for a doctorate in medicine. At the end of 1900, the scientist defended his thesis on the topic: "How muscle movements affect cerebral circulation." He conducted all the research necessary for her in the laboratory of Ankylosing spondylitis.
Trip abroad
In 1901, Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich went on a business trip abroad, where he spent 2 years. The first six months, the scientist lived in Leipzig. There he worked at the Wundt Psychological Institute. Then Lazursky moved to Heidelberg, in the laboratory of a local psychiatric clinic. At that time, its head was Emil Kraepelin, who was considered the founder of experimental psychiatry and applied her methods clinically. And the last six months, Alexander spent in Berlin. There, the researcher studied with the best neurologists and listened to lectures on psychology delivered by C. Stumpf.
Return to Russia
In 1903, Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich came to St. Petersburg and got a job at the Military Medical Academy. The scientist was elected a privat-docent "on nervous and mental illness." Later, he taught at the Academy a course in general psychology. Soon Lazursky was elected secretary of the Russian Society of Pathological and Normal Psychology. In this position, he played a significant role in the founding of the Psychoneurological Institute. Later, the researcher headed the department of general psychology there.
In 1904, Alexander Fedorovich began to collaborate with A.P. Nechaev, head of the laboratory of experimental pedagogical psychology. There, Lazursky led a special commission. Her main task was the development of experimental methods of psychology. Also, the scientist conducted certain characterological studies. After some time, courses appeared in the laboratory, and then the Pedagogical Academy.
Characterology
In 1906, Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich wrote "An Essay on the Science of Character." The researcher suggested in it to solve some problems of general psychology. The scientist wanted to do this by creating a new science - characterology, which should study the individual characteristics of the components of a person’s mental organization, as well as different ways of combining them, causing a variety of characters. Lazursky analyzed these differences in detail through the prism of such a term as “inclination”, which he himself introduced. According to Alexander Fedorovich, the formation of an inclination is based on repeated repetition by a person of certain aspects of the mental process.
The scientist admitted that modern methods of analysis do not explain the factors that determine the existence of inclinations. The main task of characterology, he saw the creation of scientifically based descriptions of personality.
Released in 1908, the publication School Characteristics was the result of putting this theory into practice. Alexander Fedorovich chose one of the closed schools and began experimentally exploring the characters of her students. Lazursky included in the book the characteristics of all children whose age was from 10 to 15 years. He supplemented the publication with detailed data from experimental studies. In addition, the hero of this article examined some complex manifestations of personality and analyzed them in detail. We go further.
Personal classification
Over time, Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich, whose biography is known to all lovers of psychology, has accumulated a huge amount of empirical data. This information was enough to formulate their own classification of individuals. At the same time, the researcher emphasized the need to create a “psychosocial” rather than psychological classification. And to achieve such a result, Lazursky formulated two principles: the division of people into several types according to their mental content, as well as the division into 3 categories according to their mental level of activity.
Natural experiment
General psychological problems - this is what Alexander Fedorovich Lazursky was engaged in besides applied research. The contribution to the psychology of this scientist is undeniable. He devoted most of his life to the study of the problem of the method. Initially, the scientist recognized the existence of three methods: observation, experiment and self-observation. The latter was the most effective and useful for solving various general psychological problems. Well, the experiment and observation Lazursky proposed to use in characterology, as the most objective. For several years, the researcher analyzed the shortcomings, advantages and capabilities of each method. In 1910, Alexander Fedorovich created a new method - the “natural experiment”, which combined the advantages of a laboratory experiment and systematic observation. During its conduct, such conditions were deliberately created under which the inclinations of people most interesting to the observer were manifested.
"Psychology general and experimental"
It was under that title that Lazursky's new book was published in 1912. In it, the scientist detailed his understanding of psychology. Mental phenomena, he considered as really existing. And he considered the psyche itself as quite a natural and natural stage of evolution. According to Alexander Fedorovich, physiological and psychological are two components of a single biological process that takes place in the cerebral cortex. As a result, Lazursky developed a more subjective understanding of psychology. The basis of his system was the principle of reflex, as well as the biologically conditioned activity of the psyche.
"Exopsychic" and "endopsychic"
Alexander Fedorovich introduced these two key concepts for characterology in 1916. By exopsychology, he understood the relationship of the individual to external objects and the environment as a whole. Under the environment here is meant art, science, various social groups, people, nature and life of the individual. Endopsychic is a person’s internal mechanisms that combine temperament, mental giftedness and character.
Classification Retry
After the introduction of fundamental concepts, the scientist formed a new theory of personality. Lazursky Alexander Fedorovich put in its basis the principle of the active adaptation of the individual to the environment. Although the researcher decided to keep the previous division into types and levels.
Persons of a lower level are subject to the influence of the environment and with great difficulty adapt to its requirements. This level in the classification of the scientist was called "unfit." To the middle level, Lazursky ranked people who had enough abilities to get an education and conduct successful activities in the future. These are “adapted” members of society. Well, the highest level of people, Alexander Fedorovich called "adaptive." This definition is explained quite simply. Representatives of this level are able to adjust the environment to their needs, which are many times higher than that of representatives of lower levels.
One of the key roles in this classification is the ratio of endo-and exopsychic. It determines the "purity" of one type or another. Lazursky refers to the “pure” type those whose professional activities, interests and acquired skills correspond to the natural properties of their neuropsychic organization. In this case, a harmonious unity of endo- and exopsychics is observed. Well, in the "transitional", "combined" types, this balance is disturbed.
For several months, Alexander Fedorovich Lazursky improved his classification, whose books are of great value to modern psychologists. Soon, another of his works was published - "On the doctrine of mental activity." In it, the researcher summarized the results of six-year experiments, describing various methods for studying the individual's internal mechanisms in objective ways.
