Methodology of Work Safety and Human Error Research in Russia

Abstract

For our Western colleagues the history of Russian psychology is mostly associated with the names of Vygotsky, Leontiev, Luria, and Galperin, the founders of famous and unique schools in world psychology. A more detailed picture of the development of psychology in Russia is less familiar to the scientific audience, and the history of Russian applied psychology remains virtually unknown even to specialists working in the field. This is understandable: Russian/Soviet psychology was hidden for a long time from the rest of the world. Nevertheless, despite the lack of international representation, Russian applied psychology and its main branch — work and engineering psychology — is relatively well developed (for a review see Klimov, 1988; Leonova, 1994, 1995; Zinchenko & Munipov, 1979).