November 22 - Psychologist's Day: the history of the profession, traditions, interesting facts

In Russia, every year on November 22, specialists who study human behavior and psyche and help citizens and society as a whole to cope with the challenges of the modern world celebrate their professional holiday. In 2024, Psychologist's Day falls on Friday. On the traditions of celebration, the formation of psychology as a science and related interesting facts read in the material "Izvestia".

History of psychology as a science, the establishment of the Day of the Psychologist in Russia

In our country, the status of a public holiday Day of the Psychologist has recently received the status of a public holiday. The corresponding decree in 2023 on behalf of President Vladimir Putin signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. Until then, since 2000, it was celebrated unofficially in the professional community. The date of November 22 was not chosen by chance: it was on this day in 1994 that the opening of the first congress of the Russian Psychological Society took place, which became a significant stage in the development of modern Russian psychology.

Psychology is one of the youngest sciences, which, nevertheless, has deep historical roots. More than two thousand years have passed from the first philosophers' reflections on the nature of the soul to modern neuropsychological research. The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato first thought about the inner world of man, they wondered about his nature, cognition and morality. Aristotle first systematized these reflections in his work "On the Soul", defining the psyche as the ability to feel, think and desire.

In the Middle Ages, these philosophical ideas were transformed under the influence of theology. The term "psychology" itself was first used in 1590 by the German scholar Rudolf Hocklenius as a derivative of two Greek words: psyche ("soul") and logos ("word").

During the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th and 19th centuries, interest in the nature of the psyche was revived. The French philosopher René Descartes continued to develop ideas about the dualism of soul and body, and John Locke proposed to consider consciousness as a product of experience.

The real breakthrough came in the 19th century, when psychology took shape as an independent science. In 1879, German scientist Wilhelm Wundt opened the first laboratory for experimental psychology in Leipzig.

In the 20th century, the profession came to include not only research but also therapeutic practice. One of the most famous and controversial thinkers in the history of this science, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, proposed a dynamic model of the psyche. He stated the existence of unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires and memories in humans.

Freud's works had a great influence on the understanding of human consciousness, subconsciousness, methods and possibilities of therapy. Also in this period such directions as behaviorism of Watson and Skinner and humanistic psychology of Maslow and Rogers were developed.

After World War II, psychologists were needed to rehabilitate veterans and address a wide range of other social issues, such as clinics, schools, organizations, and the military.

In Russia, the first psychology courses were taught in 1755 at Moscow University. However, the founder of Russian psychology is considered to be physiologist Ivan Sechenov, who in 1863 published Reflexes of the Brain, a work that made a significant contribution to understanding the connections between psyche and physiology.

In the early 20th century, Vladimir Bekhterev developed reflexology, a field based on the study of reflexes. During the same period, another Russian specialist, Alexander Lazursky, was engaged in the typology of personality, and Nikolai Lange - the study of attention. Also making a great contribution to world science was the Soviet scientist Lev Vygotsky, who suggested the role of context in personality development and also became the founder of correctional pedagogy.

However, practical psychotherapy as a separate discipline was poorly developed in the Soviet Union because psychoanalysis was considered a bourgeois science. After the 1990s, Russian psychology entered a period of rapid development, and new educational programs were created. Today, Russian psychologists work in a wide variety of spheres: in medicine, sports, education, HR, in enterprises, and in information technology.

In the modern world, the profession of a psychologist is in high demand. New technologies open new horizons for diagnostics and therapy. Online consultations make psychological help more accessible, and neuropsychology helps to better understand the relationship between the brain and behavior.

How Psychologist's Day is celebrated in 2024

Traditionally, professional conferences, seminars, lectures and round tables are held in Russia on November 22. Specialists in the field of psychology discuss achievements in this field and existing challenges, share experience.

Educational institutions organize trainings and thematic lessons aimed at developing emotional intelligence, as well as raising citizens' awareness of how understanding their own psychology can improve the quality of their lives.

In the professional community, they organize celebrations, which include awarding employees, awarding diplomas and symbolic gifts.

Examples of congratulations on the Day of the Psychologist, celebrated on November 22

On the holiday, congratulations are accepted by psychologists of all directions: clinical specialists working in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, school counselors, corporate trainers, experts in the field of social work and psychotherapy, as well as students and teachers of psychological faculties.

We publish several examples of how to congratulate the culprits of the celebration with their professional holiday in their own words:

"Congratulations on the Day of the Psychologist! Let your professional skills help people find harmony in life, and your work brings joy and inspiration."

"Congratulations to you on your professional holiday! A psychologist is a jeweler of the human soul. May every day of your work be successful, and your personal life be filled with happiness and peace of mind."

"Dear psychologists! We congratulate you on your holiday, wish you interesting discoveries, grateful clients and inexhaustible energy for new accomplishments!".

Interesting facts about the human psyche

For the Day of Psychologist "Izvestia" made a selection of interesting facts about the human psyche:

- A person feels more successful and happy if his brain is occupied with something. And we are not talking about monotonous work, but about switching from one activity to another.

- The human psyche has a limited "capacity" for the number of friends: during his life an individual can truly be friends no more than 150 times.

- According to the broken windows theory, developed by American social psychologists James Wilson and George Kelling in 1982, people are much more willing to break rules and norms of behavior if they see clear signs of disorder around them.

- Psychologists Dunning and Krueger from Cornell University in 1999 found that people with low skill levels tend to overestimate their abilities, and with high, on the contrary, look at things more soberly and more often underestimate their own knowledge and experience. In this regard, incompetent people often find themselves higher up the career ladder.

Earlier in November, Russia celebrated Tax Authorities Worker's Day. "Izvestia" told about the traditions of this professional holiday.