The article characterizes the scientific activity of B. M. Teplov, one of the largest Russian psychologists of the XX century, the founder of four scientific schools in Russian psychology. Identifies the key stages of his life and creativity, emphasizes his fundamental contribution to the development of such areas of psychology as the psychology of abilities, differential psychophysiology, military psychology, history of psychology, methodology of anthropology. Special attention is paid to historical-methodological and scientific-pedagogical activity of B. M. Teplov, who made a significant contribution to the development of psychological knowledge and University education in the country, as well as training at MSU psychologists of the highest qualification.

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the two major forms of pedagogicalactivity of an educator — pedagogical activity (with agency) and pedagogicalcommunication. We show that the two are qualitatively different yet they are sincreticallyunited and cannot function in isolation. We describe general and specific functionsof pedagogical activity and pedagogical communication emphasizing the role ofunmediated (direct face to face) communication between an educator and a studentin communicating personal knowledge. We also discuss the issue of developmentof the optimal individual style of pedagogical communication as a component ofcommunication competence of an educator.