On the 100th Anniversary of the Southern Federal University. Social Psychology at the Southern Federal University (RSU): Stages of Development and Research Directions

In 2015 the Southern Federal University celebrates its centennial anniversary. The University is the largest research and education center of the Russian south, and its history dates back to 1915 when the Imperial University of Warsaw was moved to Rostov-on-Don. The paper focuses on various factors that have contributed to the development of social psychology at the SFU (former RSU) over the period of 45 years, from the establishment of the Department of General and Social Psychology in 1971 to the emergence of the Department of Social Psychology in 1999 that is still active nowadays. Special attention is drawn to the analysis of the general context in which social psychology has been developing. The paper traces the origins of scholarly activities carried out at the Department of Social Psychology and provides a description of research areas covered by the staff of the Faculty of Psychology. The paper concludes that a distinctive feature of the Department is that each researcher provides academic courses and training in the field of his/her research activities and practice.