Explanation in psychology: from reduction of mental to a psychological theory of explanation

Introduction: the second half of XX century is characterized by the active development of methods of psychological research and their classifications. In Russian psychology, the most popular classification was proposed by B. Ananyev. However, this classification, as well as many others, practically does not pay attention to the explanation of research results, which is often replaced by their interpretation. The models proposed in psychology (J. Piaget, R. Brown, A. Yurevich, etc.) cannot be considered as theories of explanation, which leads to the use of typical research strategies: analytical explanation, mental-to-non-mental reduction, mental-to-causal reduction. Aims: the paper discusses a new approach to the theory of explanation in psychology based on the integration of explanation in the subject of psychology. Theoretical Basis: based on the principle of the unity of logic and history the paper contains a brief historical analysis of the development of methods of psychological research and explanation. The results obtained come from the analysis of modern research on the problem of the subject and explanation in psychology. Results: understanding the subject of psychology as a person's inner world can be used to develop a theory of explanation in this field. The inner world is supposed to have a multilevel structure, which makes it possible to implement structural-level approach to mental phenomena. The level structure of the inner world characterized by dynamic, genetic, functional, and other relationships makes it possible to integrate explanation into the subject of psychology. Conclusion: the results obtained provide opportunities for the development of a modern classification of explanations in psychology based on the nature of inter-level relations in the structure of a person's inner world. The study makes it possible to outline the ways of developing the theory of explanation in psychology with respect to the need to integrate explanation into the subject of psychology.