А tribute of the memory of Peter Shikhirev

A thematic round table discussion “Tendencies of development of Social Psychology” as a tribute of the memory of Prof. Peter Shikhirev was held at the Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences on the 12-th of January 2007, timed to the 70-th anniversary of his birth.

Colleagues, friends and disciples of Peter Shikhirev took part in the discussion and gave presentations:
А. L. Zhuravlev  - “Some Tendencies in the Development of Social Psychology”
N. M. Lebedeva – “Culture and Its Influence on the Life of Society”
I.L. Sushkov – “Intergroup Paradigm in Social Psychology”
А. Vitale (The Catholic University in Milan, Italy) – “Tendencies of Development of Contemporary Social-Psychological Approach in International Politics: in memory of Peter Shikhirev”
А.B. Kupreichenko – “Psychological Phenomena of Organizational Politics”
T. U. Bazarov – “Russian Business Culture: Tendencies, Problems, Solutions”
T. A. Nestik – “Social Capital: Perspectives of Social-Psychological Researches”
V. A. Sosnin – “Peter Shikhirev as scientist and teacher: Memoirs of one of the first disciples”

А. V. Yurevich, T. P. Emelyanova, A. A. Gostev took part in the discussion.
Close relatives of P. Shikhirev attended the discussion.

Scientific Archives prepared an anniversary exposition dedicated to the life history of Peter Shikhirev as a researcher and his contributions to Social Psychology as a whole and specifically to history of social psychology, psychology of inter-group relations, ethnic psychology, economic psychology, organizational psychology, psychology of negotiation and conflict resolution, psychology of deviant behaviour, social-psychological analyses of busyness culture and business ethics problems.

Peter Shikhirev was a senior researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences in the former Soviet Union from 1974 to 1992. His work on the psychological problems of prevention and treatment of alcoholism “Living without alcohol? Social Psychology of Alcoholism” (1988, Moscow) became a bestseller in Russia and beyond. In 1991 P. Shikhirev was featured on CBS television’s “60 Minutes” as an expert on alcoholism in the former Soviet Union. In the field of interethnic relations and conflict resolution he was relied upon as an expert by the Chamber of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation from 1990 to 1993 and undertook various international projects for the United Nations.

From 1992 to 2004, P. Shikhirev was the Director of the Center for Social and Psychological Studies at the Graduate School of International Business, Academy of National Economy at the Russian Government. During this period, he directed his efforts towards cross-cultural psychology, organizational behaviour, and business ethics. In his books “Sharks and Dolphins: Psychology and ethics of the Russian -  American business interaction” (1994, co-authored with  R. Anderson, USA), “Evolution of the Paradigm in Social Psychology” (1994, Moscow), “Contemporary Social Psychology” (1999, Moscow), and “Introduction to the Russian Business Culture” (2000, Moscow) he advocated that ethics and trust lay in the basis of human personality and social group dynamics. In his last works he gave a theoretical and empirical justification for the proposition that trust is the key social-psychological factor in establishing and exchanging relations (attitudes and relationships) between individuals, groups, and cultures.

One of his last published works was an article published in the January 2004 edition of the Negotiation Journal titled “Culture and Negotiation Strategy”. This was the second study from P. Shikhirev and the other members of a six-person research team. The first was “Culture on Joint Gains in Negotiation”, published by the Negotiation Journal in January 1998.