Pyotr Zinchenko


Petr Ivanovich Zinchenko was a Soviet developmental psychologist, a student of Lev Vygotsky and Alexei Leontiev and himself one of the major representatives of the Kharkov School of Psychology. In 1963, Zinchenko founded and headed the department of psychology at Kharkiv University until his death in 1969.
He had one child, Vladimir Petrovich Zinchenko, who later became a psychologist.

Research

The main theme of Zinchenko's research was involuntary memory, studied from the perspective of the activity-approach in psychology. In a series of studies, Zinchenko demonstrated that recall of the material to be remembered strongly depends on the kind of activity directed on the material, the motivation to perform the activity, the level of interest in the material and the degree of involvement in the activity. Thus, he showed that following the task of sorting material in experimental settings, human subjects demonstrate a better involuntary recall rate than in the task of voluntary material memorization.
Zinchenko's pioneering work on involuntary memory became a foundation for the development of Leontiev's activity theory and psychological research on memory in Soviet developmental psychology.

Major works

  • Zinchenko, P. I.. O zabyvanii i vosproizvedenii shkol'nyx znanij . Kandidat thesis.
  • Zinchenko, P. I.. Problema neproizvol'nogo zapominaniya -- Published in English as --
  • * Zinchenko, P. I.. The problem of involuntary memory. Soviet Psychology XXII, 55–111.
  • Zinchenko, P. I.. Neproizvol'noe zapominanie . Moscow: APN RSFSR. -- Chapter 4 is published in English as --
  • * Zinchenko, P. I.. Involuntary memory and the goal-directed nature of activity. In J.V. Wertsch The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology. Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, Inc.
  • Smirnov, A. A. & Zinchenko, P. I.. Problems in the psychology of memory. In M. Cole & I. Maltzman, A handbook of contemporary Soviet psychology. New York: Plenum Press.

External sources

  • Bocharova, S. P.. Problemy psikhologii pamyati v trudakh P. I. Zinchenko . Voprosy psikhologii, 1978, #5. -- In English in Soviet Psychology, 1979, Summer, 17, 104–113.
  • Sereda, G. K.. O znachenii nauchnogo vklada P. I. Zinchenko v razvitie psikhologii pamyati . Voprosy psikhologii, 1984, #6. -- In English in Soviet Psychology, 1994, #2.
  • Laktionov & Sereda. Deyatel'nostnaya paradigma i voprosy pamyati v trudakh P. I. Zinchenko . Voprosy psikhologii, 1993, #4.
  • Mescheryakov, B. G.. P. I. Zinchenko i psikhologiya pamyati. . Voprosy psikhologii, 2003, #4.