Analysis of modern-day Russian psychological dictionaries, textbooks and course-books on the history of psychology shows that none contains a definition of the notion "Soviet psychology". Research of original publications has revealed that Soviet psychology used to be treated as a "special" science including a number of additional characteristics besides the pro-per scientific content. According to that interpretation, Soviet psychology is not just "psychology in the USSR", but a science which is Marxist in its ideological foundation; ideological (representing ideology of a certain party) in its goals, objectives and functional mechanisms; whole in its structure, militant and advanced with respect to world psychology. Understanding of Soviet psychology as a special science is essential for objective analysis of history and ideological and theoretical legacy of the national psychology of the Soviet period.