Monographs in Psychology – serie

Although today differential psychology embraces a large and ever-increasing body of facts, conclusions, and practical recommendations which have wide applicability, a number of critical problems are still unresolved or only partly resolved. One of the most important of these is the relationship between individual variations in human behavior and in­ dividual features of a range of correlated physiological functions. Adequate concepts exist for understanding individual variations in some physiological functions underlying specific aspects (speed, tempo, rhythm, amplitude) of the flow of psychical activity. This fact alone is of considerable importance, especially when we consider that such dynamic features can-and sometimes do in a fundamental way-modulate psychological functioning. If we consider, in addition, that in certain circumstances these variables have a direct and sometimes decisive effect on the final behavioral outcome, it seems obvious that the parameters of physiologically active systems determine a number of important features of complex human behavior. According to Pavlov, the most important of these is that system com­ prising central nervous system properties, which determine the generation of excitatory and inhibitory processes in the structures of the central nervous system. The concept of basic nervous system properties as leading parameters of the psychophysiological organization of individuality seems to be one of the outstanding achievements of the Pavlovian school. It provided the framework within which investigators could attempt to determine ex­ perimentally individual features of behavior and reactivity.

electrical activity during thinking, both with and without verbalization and the use of language. Although seemingly simple, these experiments tackle a very complex subject with which psychologists, linguists, and others are only beginning to come to grips. Sokolov and his group have succeeded admirably in splitting the subject apart by driving in the wedges of objective measurement and unique experimental formulations. Chapter IX dips into the neurology and neurophysiology of motor speech and its feedback mechanisms and the dynamic localization and organization of the cerebral mechanisms responsible for symbolic formulation of speech and thought. The bibliography brings together a considerable number of Russian publications on this subject, as well as some of the pertinent American and European literature. This book is a welcome addition to an important field. Donald B. Lindsley Professor, Departments of Psychology, Physiology, and Psychiatry, and Member of the Brain Research Institute, of California, Los Angeles University Contents Introduction .......................................... . Part One GENERAL PROBLEMS OF STUDY Chapter I Theories of the Interrelation of Speech and Thought ............... 11 Chapter II The Problem of Inner Speech in Psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 . . . . . . 1. Early Investigations of Inner Speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 . . . . . 2. Discussion of Inner-Speech in Soviet Psychology ............ 46 3. Verbal Interference Methods in the Study of Inner Speech . . . . 52 .

Contrary to popular opinion, contemporary psychology in the USSR is far from being monolithic. It is true that the development of Soviet psychology does have characteristic features which distinguish it from the development of Western (and particularly Anglo-American) psychology. Perhaps the most distinguishing features of Soviet psychology are represented by the pre­ dominance of the historical-evolutionary approach and the emphasis on integrative physiological mechanisms underlying behavior. The development of Soviet psychological thinking can also be characterized as having been free of the fruitless discussions of mind-body dualism and of dominance by rat-and-pigeon-centered behaviorism. Soviet psychology had the benefit of a rich inheritance from the Sech­ that laid the foundation for modern psycho­ enov-Botkin-Pavlov school biology and biological psychiatry. Unfortunately, the politically engendered omnipresent dogmatism during the Lysenko-Stalin era of obscurantism tended to pervert this rich scientific heritage and hindered the development of a diversity of concepts and methods in the behavioral and biological sciences.