Psychologist Day in Ukraine Date in the current year: April 23, 2024

Although philosophical interest in the human mind and behavior dates back to ancient times and the term psychology was first used in the early 16th century, psychology as field of experimental study didn’t emerge until the mid-19th century, when it was distinguished from philosophy and biology.

One of the fathers of modern psychology was German philosopher and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, who published the first textbook on psychology, Principles of Physiological Psychology (Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie), in 1874 and founded the first psychological laboratory in 1879.

The pioneer psychologists in the Russian Empire, which Ukraine was part of, were Wundt’s student Georgy Chelpanov, physiologist Ivan Pavlov, the “father of objective psychology” Vladimir Bekhterev, and Bekhterev’s student Alexander Lazursky.

After the Russian revolution, the development of psychology in Russia and other Soviet states slowed down for several decades. The revival of psychology began in the 1960s, but it was heavily influenced by the communist ideology of Marxism—Leninism.

However, it doesn’t mean that there were no prominent psychologists in the Ukrainian SSR. One of them was Grygoriy Kostiuk, who served as Director of the Research Institute of Psychology of the Ukrainian SSR from 1945 to 1973 (now the G. S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine).

Another prominent Soviet psychologist who lived and worked in the Ukrainian SSR was Petro Zinchenko. A major representative of the Kharkiv School of Psychology, he studied involuntary memory. Zinchenko is also remembered as the founder of the psychology department at the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.

One more prominent name in Ukrainian psychology is Serhiy Maksymenko, the current (as of 2022) director of the G. S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology and a member of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine. He is the author of approximately 640 scientific works, including 27 monographs and over 50 textbooks.

The principal professional association of psychologists in Ukraine is the National Psychological Association of Ukraine. It represents the country in the European Federation of Psychological Associations. Other professional associations in Ukraine include the Ukrainian Psychological Associations, the Ukrainian Association of Doctors-Psychologists, the Ukrainian Association of Organizational and Work Psychologists, and more.

Ukrainian Psychologist Day has been celebrated every April 23 since 2004. Although it is not official yet, it is widely observed by Ukrainian professional associations for psychologists and therapists, educational institutions that provide degrees in psychology, and at all institutions, organizations and businesses that employ psychologists, ranging from kindergartens and schools to government agencies to training centers.