"Man and groups of men are objects of cognition in many other sciences, too, but psychology has its own approach, its own subject-matter. The subject matter of psychology as a science, the qualitatively specific ‘‘aspect”’ of man and human groups which it studies, is the phenomena, laws, and mechanisms of the psychology of individuals and groups. In the study and interpretation of the psyche, Soviet psychological science relies on Marxist-Leninist methodology as the doctrine of the general methods of cognition and transformation of the world. Strict compliance with these positions is extremely important, for psychology, from the very first days of its existence, has been an area of ideological struggle between materialism and idealism, between dialectics and metaphysics, between determinism and chance. A methodologically correct approach to the solution of psychological problems saves one from rude mistakes in theory and practice. Of fundamental methodological significance is the proposition of Marxism-Leninism that matter is primary and_ consciousness, secondary, and that man’s psyche is reflective in nature. The psyche cannot exist either as an independently acting entiry, as asserted by idealists, or as some emanations of the brain, as posited by vulgar materialists. The psyche is not emanated by the brain (as gastric juice is emanated by the stomach, for example) but emerges as a result of the impact of environment on man’s brain; it reflects reality. In recognising that psychic phenomena are caused by physiological processes in the brain, psychology concentrates on the reflective nature of the psyche, which is manifested in the psyche being the subjective image of the objective world. Psychic reflection is not passive reflection, it depends on man’s activity and his specific interaction with reality. The proposition conceming the reflective nature of the psyche is of immense significance for the theory of psychology and for practice, for it explains many psychic phenomena and, moreover, points to the principal mode of the formative and directive psychological actions: the creation of the conditions and objective influence that would produce the necessary psychic phenomena. A logical development of the methodological proposition outlined here is the thesis of the decisive role of social conditions in the formation of man’s psyche, the thesis of the social nature of the psyche. Historical materialism considers personality, group (or collective), and society in their dialectical unity. It has revealed the decisive role of labour and activity in the emergence and formation of man. Man is not a passive product of external influences—he is also the Product of his own activity."

Quote taken from:

The Psychology of Management of Labour Collectives: Guides to the Social Sciences, Chapter 1: The Methodological And Theoretical Foundations of the Psychology of Management of Labour Collectives, 1. 4. The Significance of the Psychological Factor in Management and Its Principal Characteristics, 1. 4, 2. The Subject-Matter of Psychological Science, pg. 60, by Aleksey Mikhailovich Stolyarenko