Vladimir Rusalov Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

The benefits and novelty of the activity-specific approach developed by Rusalov were that it offered a differentiation between traits that was missed in previous models of temperament and personality. This approach, i.e. differentiation between physical, verbal and mental aspects of activities was used in the neurochemical model of Functional Ensemble of Temperament developed in 2007–2014. Another benefits and novelty of the activity-specific approach was that it integrated the principle of habit formation in behavioural regulation into the structure of psychological individual differences. Other models of personality and temperament did not differentiate between traits related to probabilistic and deterministic aspects of behavioural regulation. Meanwhile, it is well known in neuroscience that behaviour in complex, probabilistic and novel situations is regulated by different (neocortex) systems than behaviour in learned or simple situations (regulated more by basal ganglia). Rusalov demonstrated that this distinction is applicable to the structure of temperament. For example, when it comes to Endurance, Intellectual Endurance relates to capacities for prolonged mental activities whereas Physical (Motor) Endurance in his model relates to capacities for stereotypical, well-learned physical work. Similarly, the trait of Plasticity in Rusalov’s model relates to activation of the frontal cortex controlling the ease of integration of new programs of actions whereas the trait of Tempo relates to the speed of integration of previously learned or simple actions.

Based on this model, Rusalov developed the Structure of Temperament Questionnaire (STQ). The first version of the English version of the STQ came out in 1989 and had in total 8 scales: four scales Ergonicity (endurance, the ability to keep intensive work), Plasticity (or flexibility, the ability to effectively switch between tasks or to change the way of performance), Tempo, and Emotionality assessed in two types of aspects of activity, physical-motor (Motor) and social-verbal (such as reading, writing, speaking, communication). Then an Extended version of the STQ was offered (1997) that included a third set of four scales to measure aspects of intellectual activity. His initial and extended versions of Structure of Temperament Questionnaire became the most widely used in Russian Psychology in the practice of personnel selection, personality studies, educational psychology and clinical psychology in the past 20 years.

From 1972 to the present time he works as a scientist in the Institute of Psychology under Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1972-2004 he was a Head of the Laboratory of Differential Psychophysiology (renamed later as Nebylitsyn laboratory of individuality). In 1982 he received his a full Doctorate degree for his work “Biological basis of psychological individual differences”. This work included a comparison of the EEG recordings and performance on various tasks of individuals with different endurance, tempo, plasticity and emotionality. In 2004-2009 he was working as a Leading Researcher in Nebylitsyn’s Laboratory of Individuality. From 2009 to present he works as a Leading Researcher in Drujinin Laboratory of Abilities and Mental Resources, Institute of Psychology under Russian Academy of Sciences. He also carries a status of Professor teaching psychology in Moscow universities and colleges since 1992. He was also an invited professor in several American Universities.

Rusalov was born in Kizlyar (Dagestan, Russia). In 1963 he graduated from the Department of Biology (specialty of Anthropology) Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1963-1972 he was working as a junior and then senior researcher in Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Pedagogical Sciences under the supervision of Boris Teplov and Vladimir Nebylitsyn. His background in anthropology and interest in individual differences attracted attention of neuropsychologist Alexander Luria who became Rusalov’s Ph.D. supervisor. The title of his Ph.D. was “Human constitution and absolute thresholds within the nervous system”, a degree was received in 1967 from this Institute of Psychology. During his Ph.D. program he met and collaborated with Jan Strelau, who was also a Ph.D. student in Vladimir Nebylitsyn laboratory at that time.

Vladimir Mikhaylovich Rusalov (born 5 October 1939) – Russian psychologist and anthropologist who was first to develop a temperament model within the Activity-specific approach. He is best known for his work in psychology of personality, temperament and differential psychophysiology.