There are many unique personalities in the history of Russian psychology. Among them, without a doubt, is the person of Yuri Mikhailovich Zabrodin, whose anniversary we will celebrate this year. His life is an example of what is conventionally called a "self made person". Of course, not everything in it happened by desire and thanks to Yuri Mikhailovich's own efforts. For example, he was born in the Urals (Perm), but for some reason that is unknown to us, his parents moved to Leningrad. It is known that since childhood he was interested in technology and exact sciences. Therefore, it is quite understandable that in his youth he began to try to realize himself in the field of science and technology that covers issues of using electrical and magnetic phenomena to convert energy, change the physical and chemical properties of substances, transmit information, as well as the creation and use of electrical devices for the generation, transmission, distribution and conversion of electrical energy. This is what brought him to the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute of Communications named after V.A. Bonch-Bruevich (now the St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications), which he successfully graduated from when he was 23 years old.
It would seem that everything was going as planned and a career as an electrical engineer awaited him. But... fate decreed otherwise: the young engineer found himself in a group of people seriously engaged in experimental psychology and the creation of instruments for scientific research. And this significantly changed his life path.
From that moment on, Yuri Mikhailovich began to become more and more interested in psychology and at the age of 27 he decided to continue his education in full-time graduate school at the Faculty of Psychology of Leningrad State University. The focus of his interests as a specialist who also has an engineering education is the "human operator", i.e. an individual whose professional activity is associated with the management of remote processes, influencing them through special devices (remote control). His research on the detection of weak signals by a "human operator" becomes the basis of his PhD dissertation. At the age of 31, he received a degree in psychology and actively continued his career as an assistant in the Department of Ergonomics and Engineering Psychology of the Faculty of Psychology of Leningrad State University. The pinnacle of the Leningrad period of Yuri Mikhailovich's life was his work at the Faculty of Psychology as a deputy dean for research, which allowed him to realize not only his scientific, but also his organizational skills. It would seem that the line of fate was determined, but ... In 1972, the Institute of Psychology of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created in Moscow, where Yuri Mikhailovich, already a well-known and promising scientist and organizer, was invited to head the psychophysics laboratory. It was here that the development of research in this area of psychology received a new impetus and the foundations of the domestic school of psychophysical theory were developed. The seventies of the twentieth century for Yu. M. Zabrodin were a time of active self-realization not only in the sphere of his own scientific interests, but also in organizational activities. During these years, he showed himself in a new place as deputy director of the IPRAS for research. The research and management experience he had accumulated during this time are reflected in his doctoral dissertation, which he successfully defended in 1977. In it, Yuri Mikhailovich presented his vision of the methodological foundations of psychophysics, the psychophysical theory of sensory-perceptual processes and gave their full description. Here he managed to generalize previously scattered empirical data and develop a system-dynamic approach to the analysis of sensory processes. The generalized psychophysical law proposed by Yuri Mikhailovich took into account the fact that the nature of the relationship between sensations and influencing stimuli is determined by a person's awareness of the sensation processes. The main difference of the law he established is that it includes not only the logarithmic and exponential functions, but also all intermediate functions between them. All this as a whole allows us to consider Yu. M. Zabrodin one of the founders of the domestic scientific school of modern psychophysics. The results of research in this area, conducted under his supervision and with his participation, are reflected in many publications, among which we highlight “Psychophysiology and Psychophysics” (1977, jointly with A. N. Lebedev), “Features of Human Sensory Problem Solving” (1981, jointly with G. S. Shlyakhtin and E. Z. Frishman), scientific editing and articles in collections of “Psychophysical Research” (1977), “Mental States and Activity Efficiency” (1983), “Psychological Problems of Activity in Special Conditions” (1985), “Psychophysics of Discrete and Continuous Problems” (1985), “Advances in Psychophysics” (1976), “Psychophysical Judgment and the Processes of Perception” (1982).
At this stage of his work, Yu. M. Zabrodin, together with his colleagues, clarifies and develops the basic methodological principles of psychological experimentation, the theoretical foundations for the application of psychological knowledge and psychological methods as one of the co-authors of such collective monographs as "Mathematical Modeling in Psychology" (1979), "Problems of Measuring Human Mental Characteristics in Cognitive Processes" (1980), "Problems of Psychological Support for Operators of Human-Machine Systems" (1983), etc. The main result of such work was the development by him and his followers of a formal theory of sensory-perceptual processes, a theory of decision-making processes, a theory of mental regulation of activity and behavior, which received worldwide recognition.
At the end of the last century, Yuri Mikhailovich puts into practice the accumulated experience of an organizer and professional in various institutions in various areas of work:
- heads the Society of Psychologists of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1989-1995);
- works as the head of the Department of Professional Training and Human Resources Development of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation (since 1996 — the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation);
- General Director of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Center for Career Guidance and Psychological Support of the Population of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation,
- Head of the Department of a) Psychology of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics; b) Social Psychology of the Faculty of Psychology of the Moscow City Pedagogical University;
- Executive Secretary of the Interdepartmental Commissions on Career Guidance and Psychological Support, on Retraining and Advanced Training of Civil Servants; was a member of the Presidium of the Russian Psychological Society;
- in the status of a member of the Presidium, Vice-President of the Federation of Educational Psychologists of Russia; a number of scientific and coordinating councils of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, departments of the Government of Moscow, etc.
It is important to note here that throughout his life and professional career, Yuri Mikhailovich tries to reflect new ideas and experience gained in publications. In his new capacity, he creates and publishes at the beginning of the new century such a unique work for that time as "Psychology of Personality and Human Resource Management" (2002), the text of which will become the basis for a later publication - "Psychology of Human Resource Management (Essays on the Theory of Mental Regulation of Behavior)" (2017). The uniqueness of this work is that it is devoted to the consideration of global problems of theoretical and applied personology: it sets out the scientific foundations for solving human resource management problems both at the individual level and at the level of organizations and large groups of people. Here Yuri Mikhailovich examines the methodological problems of defining the object and subject of psychological research in the field of active social policy, substantiates the need to develop and improve the methods and methodological techniques for conducting psychological surveys, provides an analysis of problematic issues related to the applications of psychological science to solving applied and practical problems of social contacts of an individual, human behavior in organizations, etc. For the problems that have developed in modern domestic psychology, the most important fact is that in this work Yu. M. Zbrodin examines and offers solutions to pressing issues of the development of theoretical and practical psychology in the general context of the development of social technologies and human resource management mechanisms. It is obvious that the human and professional resource of Yuri Mikhailovich was so rich that he could not be afraid to apply it in any area of professional activity. After 2005, he was actively involved in solving the problems of university science already in the status of vice-rector for research at the Moscow City Psychological and Pedagogical University (currently the Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University). And in the period from 2011 to 2016, another turn: Yuri Mikhailovich begins to actively engage in educational and methodological issues as the Vice-Rector for the Educational and Methodological Association (EMA) of MSUPE. At the same time, he simultaneously performs the duties of a member of the Academic Council, supervises the scientific research of young scientists, organizes work on the development and implementation of professional activity standards, etc. By this stage of life, more than 200 candidate dissertations have been prepared and defended under his scientific supervision. As a scientific consultant, he actively participated in the preparation of a dozen dissertations for doctors of science.
One cannot help but pay attention to the fact that, being already quite old and not very physically well, Yuri Mikhailovich remains quite successful and effective. In particular, his life, human and professional resource, his experience and energy are also actively realized in the status of Vice-Rector of MSUPE in solving problems of interdepartmental interaction. At the same time, he does not stop productive research activities, does not reduce publication activity. It should be noted that during this time (2005-2016) he wrote and published several dozen works on current issues of modern psychological theory and practice. To understand the breadth of coverage of current issues, it is enough to read only the titles of publications where Yuri Mikhailovich was the author/co-author.
Here are some examples: "Economic Psychology of Man and Management of Socio-Economic Processes" (2005), "Problems and Prospects for the Development of Practical Psychology in Russia" (2006), "Practical Psychology and Management of Socio-Economic Processes" (2007), "Psychological Counseling", "Psychological Diagnostics" (2010), "Information Technologies and the Problem of Access of Young Professionals to Integrated Knowledge in the Field of Practical Psychology" (2011), "On Professional Pedagogical Degrees and Their Assignment to Practical Teachers", "The Role of Public and Professional Organizations and Their Interaction with Government Authorities in Managing the Education System" (2012), etc. The accumulated unique creative potential and fortitude of Yuri Mikhailovich allowed him to always successfully cope with the solution of many organizational, scientific, applied and practical problems. In the last years of his life, he realized himself as an adviser to the rector's office of MGPPU and actively helped the university management in solving the tasks set before them.
The history of the professional fate of Yuri Mikhailovich Zabrodin is a vivid example of how a person can successfully develop and realize his personal resources. This is a guideline for those who are still on the threshold of choosing their path, and for those who solve the problems of self-actualization at one or another stage of their growth. All people who in one way or another interacted, collaborated with Yuri Mikhailovich, probably know that cooperation with him was definitely not boring, not formal, but creatively rich, interesting and productive.
Remembering this unique person today, we pay tribute to those who created modern domestic psychology in all its forms. The results of the life and work of such people as Yuri Mikhailovich Zabrodin allow us to understand not only the uniqueness of the history of domestic psychology, but also to preserve, pass on from hand to hand the most valuable things that were done before us. With this invaluable foundation, we can successfully continue the work they began.