Lithuanian Psychology Textbooks for General Education Schools in the First Half of the 20th Century

Abstract

The article presents assessment of Lithuanian psychology textbooks for general education schools published in the first half of the 20th century in the historical and education contexts. The research methods applied here included analysis of scientific literature, bibliographic data and professional periodical press, and comparative analysis of the textbooks. The research implies that chronology of Lithuanian psychology textbooks in the analyzed period was mostly determined by certain historical and political circumstances. Shortly after gaining Independence in 1918, two autonomous translations of Russian Georgy Chelpanov’s “Psychology textbook” were published in Lithuanian. One of them, prepared by Mecislovas Reinys, was adapted and supplemented with an original list of additional readings as well as a subject index. Another, performed by Juozas Gedminas, matched the original. “Psychology”, a textbook for secondary schools, written by Boris Teplov, was translated by Alfonsas Gucas and published in 1947. The fact that all the textbooks were translations of popular Russian textbooks can be explained, first of all, by peculiarities of psychology teaching in general education schools in Lithuania in the first half of the 20th century. The educational system in Lithuania was not transformed immediately after 1918, and Georgy Chelpanov’s textbook matched it well. Besides, under the Soviet occupation, psychology as a science and as a school subject was strictly regulated by the Central Government of the USSR, and Alfonsas Gucas was not free in his choice. Keywords: history of psychology, psychology textbooks, teaching of psychology, Mecislovas Reinys, Juozas Gedminas, Alfonsas Gucas, Georgy Chelpanov, Boris Teplov. How to cite: Almonaitienė, J. S. (2016). XX a. pirmosios pusės psichologijos vadovėliai bendrojo lavinimo mokykloms lietuvių kalba [Lithuanian psychology textbooks for general education schools in the first half of the 20 th century]. Ugdymo psichologija, 27 , 69–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.15823/up.2016.02