V.M. Bekhterev’s scientific-experimental psychology (To the 140th anniversary of the establishment of the first psychophysiological laboratory in Russia)

V.M. Bekhterev, the founder of experimental psychology in Russia, having made up his mind professionally, chose psychiatry, which provided an opportunity to realize in theory and practice the principle of his professional life – to know a person and help him. In the psychophysiological laboratory he created at Kazan University (1885) he investigated reflexological processes of the brain using complex, objective methods. In his work “Consciousness and its Boundaries” (Kazan, 1888) he presented for the first time the psychologically comprehended phenomenon of “consciousness”: a variety of forms having a level structure; actualization of “light”, “dark”, “general” and “personal” sides of consciousness; destructive effect (“reverse metamorphosis”). Bekhterev’s model reflection of the organization of consciousness with its spatial-temporal, spiritual-personal, and reflexive levels in our interpretation has a direct correlation with the being, spiritual, and reflexive layers of consciousness in the modern interpretation. Its law of interaction has been confirmed in the process of hypnosis, in experiments with participants of the “collective personality” and has heuristic value for modern psychology. The continuation of Bekhterev’s ideas in the activity of Kazan University psychologists is theoretically manifested in the creation and experimental confirmation of models: a person as an actor of self-regulation (self-development), mental representation of mental states, virtual behavior in social networks. In 75–85% of the effectiveness of the model of virtual behavior is confirmed by the analysis of materials of hundreds of thousands of users, carried out by psychologists and IT-technology specialists. Practical actions on overcoming difficulties and providing psychological assistance to students and university employees were carried out by the staff of the laboratories of “Psychological problems of higher school”, “Safety of educational environment”, “Psychological clinic”.