Smirnov, Anatolii Aleksandrovich

Born Oct. 24 (Nov. 5), 1894, in Ruza, now in Moscow Oblast. Soviet psychologist. Member of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR (1947) and the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR (1968).

Smirnov graduated from the faculty of history and philology at Moscow University in 1916, after which he worked in the Institute of Psychology, the Academy of Social Education, the Institute of Extracurricular Work, and the Moscow City Pedagogical Institute. From 1941 to 1951 he was a professor at Moscow State University, and from 1945 to 1972 he was director of the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR (since 1966, the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR). Smirnov was editor in chief of the journal Voprosy psikhologii (Problems of Psychology) from 1955 to 1958; he was appointed to this position again in 1966. He was one of the founders of and the first president (1959-63) of the Society of Psychologists of the RSFSR.

Smirnov’s experimental work has dealt mainly with visual perception and memory; research on the latter subject has centered on the relationship between remembering and the nature and purpose of an activity. Smirnov has written primarily on general, child, and pedagogical psychology and on the history of psychology. He is coauthor and senior editor of a psychology textbook for pedagogical higher educational institutions.

Smirnov has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.