Category of activity in psychology. Structure and main characteristics

D. is one of the fundamental concepts in domestic psychology and is considered as a psychological category.

In domestic psychology activity is defined as a specific type of human activity aimed at creative transformation by improving reality and oneself.

In contrast to the activity of an animal, D. of a person is of a productive nature. D. is always purposefully active. According to the tradition that has developed in psychology, behavior is understood as the external manifestations of the mental D. of a person

Psych. D. theory began to be developed in the 1920s and early 1930s (L. S. Vygotsky, S. L. Rubinshtein, A. N. Leontiev, P. Ya. Galperin, B. F. Lomov). Psychological theories of activity are based on the philosophy of dialectical materialism - the theory of K. Marx, its main thesis for psychology - not consciousness determines being, D., but, on the contrary, being, D. of a person determines his consciousness. Marx's philosophical discovery is that cognition does not exist outside the life process, which by its very nature is a material, practical process. Reflection of reality arises in the process of development of real connections of knowing people with the human world around them, these connections are determined and, in turn, have a reverse effect on their development.

Rubinshtein S.L.: the essence of this approach - the subject, in his deeds, in the acts of his creative, subjective activity, is not only revealed and manifested, he is created and determined in them. Therefore, what he does can determine what he is.

From Rubinstein's point of view, D. is characterized by subjectivity (D. is always carried out by a person as a subject), content, reality, objectivity. In addition, D. is creative and developing, conscious and purposeful.

1935 - 40 g Rubinstein singles out within D. diverse components movement - action - operation - act, in resolving their mutual connections with goals, motives and conditions D. At the center of these components is action, which is a unit of psychology, the action is always purposeful and conscious, the goal is a specific result. The correlation of goals with the conditions in which it is to be implemented determines the task, which should be an action.



The constituent parts of an action are the operations that are necessary to achieve the result of a specific action constituting the goal.

Every action, directed towards a certain goal, proceeds from one or another motive. More or less conscious impulses act as a motive, this or that impulse becomes for a person the motive of action through its correlation with the goal, just as, on the other hand, the object to which the action is directed, and which induces it, becomes the goal of the action through correlation with the motive. The motives and goals of D. are of a generalizing, integrating nature and stem from the need for their interests.

Action, which is perceived and realized by the acting subject as a social act, as a manifestation of the subject, which expresses the attitude of the subject to other people - this is an act (a special form of action).

Types of actions - reflex, instinctive, impulsive and volitional.

A specific human species is volitional action, i.e. conscious act aimed at achieving a specific goal.

movements- these are the mechanisms through which actions are carried out that express behavior, human movements are directed to an object, to a tool as a means of labor.

Types D.- work, play, study.

Work- conscious purposeful D., which is directed to the implementation of the result, before the action given in the representation of the worker and regulated by the will in accordance with its conscious goal.

A game- meaningful D, which resolves the contradiction between the rapid growth of the needs and requests of the child and the limitedness of his operational requests.

A.N. Leontiev: D. is an active, purposeful, meaningful process, during which a person purposefully performs actions with the objective world, considering the objective D. as a process within which the psychic arises. D is inherent in both man and animal, but in animals it is like vital activity.

Clearly distinguishing between external D. and internal D. External D. is sensually objective, material. ideal D - more consciousness; because formed on the basis of external activity.

The process of transition from external objective D. to internal D. is internalization.

Transition from the inner psyche. D. to external D. - exteriorization.

An individual group can act as a subject in an activity. The formation of the subject of D. is carried out when a person masters the content of D.

The structure of D. - needs - motive -D

The analysis of any D. begins with an analysis of the subject content of the need and motive, i.e. a certain type of D. corresponds to a certain motive and need.

Need- the state of a person, expressing his dependence on material and spiritual objects and conditions of existence that are outside of a person. The need experienced by a person induces a person to D., to search for the object of its satisfaction. The object of need is a real motive (a form of manifestation of need) on the basis of the same need, motives for various types of D. can arise and vice versa

The same D. is caused by different motives and needs

This or that motive induces a person to set a task, to identify a goal. Which will be carried out in certain conditions, requires the performance of an action to search for an object that meets the motive and satisfies the need.

The goal is the result to be presented D.

Actions as an integral part of D. any D is carried out in the form of actions / goals of actions.

Ways to carry out an action operations- these are transformations of an action that have become a way of implementing other more complex operations that are little realized / not at all realized, in contrast to actions.

The theory of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts of Galperin:

Manifestations of the subject's activity are actions. Actions are external (object, material,) and internal (mental, ideal).

The totality of external actions forms ext., object.D. and the set of internal - mental D.

Psychic D. is a single set of mental actions. Internal mental actions are internalized, the object of action that has become ideal.

Internalization - the process of forming the psyche from the material is the process of individual appropriation of the social, the result is the images of the concept and knowledge in general.

The process of forming mental actions in stages.

1. the stage of drawing up a preliminary idea of ​​the task, the formation of an orienting basis for the action - the main task and the main content of this stage when performing the action is the orienting basis, determines the process of orientation in the task

2. Materialization of mental properties and relations of things, it is necessary to subject the actions to complex processing;

2.1 expand (i.e. show all its operations in their mutual relations;

2.2 select those properties of the object that are needed to perform this action, i.e. generalize it, when this is achieved, some action operations start to shrink

3. after reaching the highest materialized form (the most generalized abbreviated and sufficiently mastered), the action separates from its last external support this stage of transferring the action to the plane of loud speech without relying on the object. Speech is a form of objective action.

4. The transfer of a loud speech action to the internal plan ends this stage with the free pronunciation of the action in its entirety - to oneself. The sound form of speech becomes a representation, a sound image of the word. The first form of one's own mental action turns out to be clearly detailed speech to oneself.

5. reduction of the speech formula itself. External speech begins to turn into internal. Thus, an objective action, having found itself in various forms of external speech, eventually becomes an act of internal speech.

B.F.'s approach Lomov

The individual as a subject of D. In D. is formed, develops, manifests itself in one way / another, the totality of the processes of states and properties of the individual, which are commonly referred to as mental. D. As a determinant of the totality of mental processes and properties of the subject; mental as a factor D.

The structure of any D. is one - it includes external and internal

The main generators of D.:

Motive, goal, planning, D, processing of current information, operational image, decision making, action, checking the results and correcting the action. The “motive-goal” vector is the leading regulator of D., which determines the structure and dynamics of all its other components. Each new goal leads to a change in the motivational sphere, which creates the possibility of setting a new goal.

The goal as an image acts as a prerequisite that determines the beginning of D. The image-goal is a specific phenomenon of advanced reflection. In plan D, the reflected strategy and tactics are based on the objective and subjective conditions of the performed D.

Information about the current state of items.

An ideal specialized reflection of an object that is transformed into D., which develops in the course of performing a specific action and is subordinate to the task of this action, is an operational image. The mismatch between the operational image and the image of the goal determines the direction of the search for a solution in the process of which hypotheses are put forward, they are tested and evaluated, such as decision making, specific actions.

In the course of performing D., transitions of actions with real objects into actions with ideal ones and vice versa are made.

which more fully reveals the category of activity. Noting the contiguity, and at the same time, the discrepancy between the two indicated categories, we proceed to criticize the postulate of conformity, which puts an identity sign between the processes of carrying out activities and activity. The category of "activity" should free activity from the teleological shell of everyday ideas to reveal in it something different, essential. What exactly, we will see in the future.

Chapter 4

To understand the development of the categorical structure of science means, as shown in the works of M. G. Yaroshevsky and his school, to reveal not only the impulses of the logical self-movement of scientific thought, but also the socio-cultural context of the emergence and interaction of the categories of science. Analyzing the sociocultural situation of the formation, or rather the "stopping" of scientific thought in our country in the 30-70s, we state that the activity did not receive its sufficient coverage, being in the shadow of other categories. (The movement of the category "activity" in the history of psychology, its relationship with other categories are covered in detail in the author's Ph.D. thesis and in his book). The dynamics of her status can be metaphorically described in terms of defense mechanisms, with the only difference that in this case we are talking not about the individual, but about the public consciousness (the consciousness of scientific communities).

Crowding out. Activity (as a general psychological category) and personality activity(a private concept) until very recently were not covered either in general scientific, or in philosophical, or in special psychological encyclopedias and dictionaries. The book by N. A. Bernshtein (Essays on the Physiology of Activity. M., 1966), which had a significant impact on the development of psychology, could serve as an example, but this did not happen. The first dictionary publications on this subject (Short Psychological Dictionary, 1985) were prepared by us.

The idea of ​​the "protective mechanisms" of the consciousness of scientific communities and that their functioning allowed the category "activity" to preserve itself in the difficult history of the psychology of the Soviet period was first expressed by the author at the II Conference on the Sociology of Personality of the All-Union Sociological Association (Palanga, 1988) and then in a report at the VII All-Union Congress of the Society of Psychologists

USSR (Moscow, 1989). The attempt to analyze the movement of the categories of science in terms of psychoanalysis, as it turned out later, was not unprecedented. At one of the recent meetings of psychologists

Limitation. There is a not entirely fair joke that the psychology of the 60-70s. represented mainly by works from the ear, throat, nose and pupil; however, it cannot be denied that a certain bias in the field of cognitive processes took place during these years. The impulses to explore the active human nature that boiled in the "collective unconscious" found their way out in the field of the psychology of perception, although even here they had to be reliably protected from possible reproaches in vitalism. This line of development, extremely fruitful for psychology, contributed to the survival of the category of activity in it.

Rationalization. Methodologically rich category substantive activity also provided shelter for the development of the category of activity - sometimes by resorting to such seemingly self-decaying, internally paradoxical concepts, such as similar (!) activity.

The action of these defense mechanisms (and their list could, of course, be expanded to include such as isolation, denial, etc.) prevented the disappearance, or rather, the solemn expulsion from Russian psychology of a whole class of activity phenomena. And thus, the category of activity continued to exist in psychology implicitly - sometimes in the form of default figures, and sometimes in symbiosis with

As is known, the name of L. S. Vygotsky is associated with the idea of ​​the cultural-historical mediation of higher mental functions. Historical and psychological studies elucidating the views of L. S. Vygotsky usually emphasize that activity appeared to him as conditioned by the use of “psychological tools”. For the purposes of our analysis, we point out that in the works of L. S. Vygotsky and his collaborators, activity is also revealed from the side of its becoming symbolic, instrumental. With particular relief, this plan of ideas about activity is revealed in the analysis of the features inherent in the "instrumental method" developed in the works of L. S. Vygotsky and his collaborators. As is known, the experimental method involved the creation of a situation of free choice regarding the possibility of turning to the "stimulus-means" in solving the task assigned to the subject. The need to use the "stimulus-means" in the activity was not imposed on the subject from the outside. The action with the "stimulus-means" was the result of the subject's free decision. Depending on the level of development of the subject, the external "stimulus-means" acted significantly differently. They may or may not match the possibilities of their use; their application could act both in external and in internal form. "Psychological tool" meant not so much a beginning that forcibly acts on the subject, but a point of application the strength of the individual which, as it were, "absorb" the sign. The individual was thus considered essentially active.

Not a single researcher of the problem of activity can pass by D. N. Uznadze's theory of set. The core of scientific research and the main emphasis in the conceptual understanding of "attitude" fall on the indication of the dependent nature of the subject's activity on the attitude he has, that is, the person's readiness to perceive the world in a certain way, to act in one direction or another. In this case, the activity acts as directed by the installation and, thanks to the installation, as resistant to disturbing influences of the environment. At the same time, objectively, the psychological interpretation of the attitude phenomenon contains another plan, which is determined by the need to answer the question of the origin (“generation”) of the attitude. This aspect of the problem has been developed much less than the first. The founder of the theory of set, D. N. Uznadze, emphasizing the dependence of the direction of behavior on set, called for the study of the genesis of the latter, and by this - for the study of activity as primary. This call is not weakened, but, on the contrary, strengthened by time. The difficulty, however, lies in the insufficiency of simply postulating activity as the initial condition for the development of the psyche. Therefore, some modern researchers in the field of the theory of activity (A. G. Asmolov, 1974, 1976), seeing in the setting a mechanism for stabilizing activity, emphasize that the set is a moment internally included in the activity itself, and it is in this capacity that they interpret the set as generated by activity. . This proposition seems to us especially important for understanding the connection between activity and set. In the study of the objective activity of the subject, the possibility of a special distinction between the two layers of movement presented in the activity opens up: one of them is structured by the available installations, the other initially represents a set of objectively unformed moments of movement, which, as it were, fill the “clearance” between the actual installations and the objective conditions of activity that go beyond them. . It is this layer of movement (activity), which has a special plasticity, that is, as it were, molded into the shape of the subject's new attitudes.

Perhaps now, more than ever, the theoretical views of S. L. Rubinshtein are revealing their constructive meaning for the development of the problem of activity. He deserves the merit of a clear statement of the problem of the relationship between "external" and "internal", which played an important role in the formation

psychological thought. The principle put forward by S. L. Rubinshtein, according to which external influences cause an effect only by being refracted through internal conditions, opposed both the notions of the fatal predetermination of activity on the part of external influences, and the interpretation of activity as a special force that does not depend on the interaction of the subject with the objective environment. This principle is closely related to the idea of ​​the orientation of the personality (a concept that came into use in scientific psychology after the publication of the Fundamentals of General Psychology in 1940), the idea of ​​the passive-active nature of human needs. Even closer to the problem under discussion is the position considered in the latest works of S. L. Rubinshtein, about the exit of the individual beyond the situation, which was conceived in the form of resolving the problem situation by the subject.

A special approach to the problem of the relationship between "external" and "internal" is affirmed in the works of A. N. Leontiev. In the book "Activity. Consciousness. Personality” proposed, in essence, the formula of activity: “Internally (the subject) acts through the external and thereby changes itself.” It was necessary to introduce the category of activity into psychology and to isolate its special units in activity in order to pave the way for raising the question of those internal moments in the movement of activity that characterize the constantly occurring transitions and transformations of units of activity and consciousness.

Activity, consciousness, reflection, attitude, significance, relationships, etc.

All these are categories and concepts that have taken the idea of ​​activity into their composition. Let us express the opinion that their very attraction to psychologists, and therefore their viability, was due to this union. But in it the activity seems to have lost some of its own energy of life. Gone is the sacrament of a special kind of causality, the position inherent in it alone, activity, the position “between”: determination by the events of the past (stimulus) and images of the required future (goal).

Denying stimulus-reactive scheme of interpreting behavior and consciousness, we habitually turn to teleological schemes, the possibility of which remains even in such conceptual alternatives as “partiality of mental reflection”, “primary attitude”, etc. Overcoming the paradigm of determination by the past constituted a whole era of the formation of psychological thought in the world.

In the 70s. , at the "start" of the development of the problem of activity in our country, the interest of researchers in the category of activity was due, in addition to the actual scientific "impulses", the rejection of certain trends in public life, contained arguments against: "complete unanimity" in the field of ideology; ideas about the possibility of deriving the goals of the existence of each individual person from the “correctly comprehended” goals of social life; constantly declared harmony of personal and public interests, etc.

The protest contained a special aesthetics of denial: a person as a “specially human formation. . . cannot be derived from adaptive activity”, “creation alone knows no boundaries. . . "(A. N. Leontiev); “the psyche is not an administrative institution” (V. P. Zinchenko); LIFE of human culture and a person in it as a "dialogic" (V. S. Bibler); “Not a person belongs to the body, but the body belongs to the person” (G.S. Batishchev); “An individual is born, a person becomes, an individual is upheld” (A. G. Asmolov). A special view was formed of a person as a creature that overcomes the barriers of its natural or social limitations.

The pathos of denial, in essence, coincided here with the pathos of the proclamation of the Future, - in the form of an object of aspiration, - the determinant of what is happening. But one cannot avoid the question of the nature of these aspirations themselves: what are they, in essence, and where do they come from?

One of the possible ways of research here is to adequately comprehend the peculiarity of the type of causality that is hidden behind

phenomenon of human activity. We are talking about actual causality, about the determining significance of the moment, in contrast to other forms of determination, whether it is determination from the side of the past (usual causal relationships: effective causality) or from the side of a possible future (in the form of target causality). We find the correct form of describing this type of causality in I. Kant in his ideas about the interaction (or communication) of substances. From this point of view, the activity of the system is the determinism of the tendencies of its change by those innovations that arise in it actually (here and now) - this is determinism from the side of the present, and not the past (in the form of traces of previous events), or the future (in the form of a modification of these trends and developments yet to be encountered).

Actual causality can be revealed on the examples of such psychological concepts as “primary attitude” (D. N. Uznadze), “determining tendency” (N. Akh), “significance” (N. F. Dobrynin), “mood” (V M. Basov), "scheme" (W. Naiser), etc. The concept of "field" by K. Levin stands apart. Each of these concepts fixes the role of the current moment in the determination of what is happening, however, the specifics of actual causality are still not clearly visible in them: the past and the future still powerfully declare themselves in the semantic context of their use. Some of these concepts, such as mood, can be considered as intermediaries, intermediate variables in the stimulus-response scheme; others serve the schemes of (teleological) causality, acting either as a tool to achieve the goal (scheme), or as a target orientation (primary setting, determining the trend

and etc.) Thus, in the idea of ​​actual causality, we are again faced with an alternative: either the old a stimulus-reactive scheme updated with intermediate variables, or a teleological paradigm that offers us only one way of seeing the actual determination - a goal that appears at every moment in one form or another (the already familiar postulate of conformity). Levin's concept of "field" is free from these restrictions. However, the principle of "here and now" in the interpretation of the "forces" acting on the subject does not explain the birth of truly new goals. Even in trivial cases of action in the field of impulses associated with well-known objects, the determination of the goal is a special act that rises above the "field", although it is conditioned by it (for example, the hand that takes the thing does not miss, does not find itself between objects, although in that many may turn out to be attractive to some extent. Behavior in rare cases can be represented as movement according to the resultant of many forces. But recognizing the limitations of the "field" principle for understanding goal setting, it is necessary to note the productivity of the very idea "here

and now" for a causal interpretation of behavior, opening the way to overcoming the teleological approach. True, this possibility is not properly appreciated in psychology, perhaps because K. Levin himself gave grounds for identifying the resultant of many valences with the goal (and the form of intention, “quasi-need”).

Causality "here and now", the principle of actual determination, contains, as we believe, the possibility of explaining the assumptions of such goals that are not preceded by previously accepted goals.

When discussing this third possibility, which indicates the very root of goal-setting activity, it is necessary to give a generalized idea of ​​the goal, not reducing it to the “image of the necessary” as a previous act of action itself (although this is not easy due to the generally accepted identification of the goal in psychology with the “model of the necessary future "(N. A. Bernshtein).

AT In general terms, we could define the goal in terms of the categories of the possible and the actual. The goal is an image of the possible as a prototype of the actual. The possible, in relation to the individual, is some of his state in the future in

in the form of a relationship between its own properties and the properties of the environment (state). Based on this general definition, we adhere here to a very broad concept of the goal, including here the motivation of the action (it cannot be comprehended otherwise than as the "internal goal of striving", according to Heckhausen); and purpose as a consciously anticipated result of an action; and the task as a goal, acting in a certain context of the conditions of activity. In addition, it is necessary to admit (and the rejection of the postulate of conformity forces us to this) that there are also special kinds of goals that are not deducible from the previous ones (primary goals of activity).

The essential question, in our opinion, is to understand the very source of the birth of a new goal. After all, before the goal is embodied in action, moreover, before the goal is accepted by the individual as a consequence of “calling the goal by action” (A. N. Leontiev), it must be presented to him in rough outline (primary goal); but the birth of the primary goal must itself be understood as deterministic. And there is such a determinant. We believe that this is a person's experience of the possibility of action (the state of I can).

Opportunities as such are not yet goals, but only the conditions for their achievement and setting. But, being experienced directly, that is, without the assistance of additional stimuli, they turn into a movement of thought or behavior, they are embodied in activity. Experiences - and in this we are deeply in solidarity with V. K. Vilyunas (1990) - form that part of the "image of the world" (A. N. Leontiev, S. D. Smirnov), which serves as a real determinant of human activity. Let us turn to the experience of introspection and consider the experience of I can. We shall see that the sense of the possible is unstoppable in its transformations; it is, as it were, charged with action, produces it "out of itself." And to the same extent, the experience of helplessness (I can't!) absorbs activity, as it were, makes a person helpless.

Actual determinism in the form of experiencing one's own possibilities of action as the cause of goal-setting explains the putting forward by an individual of a really new goal that is not derived from already accepted goal orientations (whether it be a motive, a previous goal, a task, or a fixed setting). Otherwise, the idea of ​​activity as goal-setting either simply hangs in the air (a new goal appears like a rabbit in a conjurer's hat) or does not contain any novelty, as sometimes happens when the goal orientations of one level lead out of the goal orientations of another.

Now we can return to the above promise to discuss the question of the relationship between "activity" and "activities". This question is the subject of a lively discussion in philosophical literature (E. A. Anufriev, A. N. Iliadi, Yu. L. Vorobyov, M. S. Kagan, V. Yu. Sagatovsky, B. S. Ukraintsev, L. V. Khoruts and others). Comparing the volume of the concepts "activity" and "activity", the authors come to contrasting solutions. One pole of judgments: the identification of activity with the self-movement of matter (in this case, of course, activity becomes only a particular manifestation of activity). Another pole: the interpretation of activity as a "substance" (and then activity appears as its "mode").

Offering my solution, I do not compare the volumes of the concepts under discussion. It seems to me more productive - to establish relationships of mutual continuity and interpenetration between activity and activity.

We find a general definition of activity in I. Kant, in the Critique of Pure Reason. Activity is defined as causality cause(Has the reader ever met a more concise, exhaustive, intuitively reliable definition of "activity"?). In psychological terms, activity can be understood as the “causality” of an individual in relation to the activity carried out by him, as its “individual” constituent. Activity becomes visible in the processes of initiation ("launch") of activity, its implementation, control over

its dynamics, etc. Thus, the totality of the moments of the movement of activity determined by the individual belongs to the sphere of manifestations of activity.

There is no activity outside activity and activity outside activity. In formulating this proposition, we emphasize that the latter is interpreted here in a broad sense. By activity is meant the dynamic connection of the subject with the objects of the surrounding world, acting as a necessary and sufficient condition for the implementation of the life relations of the subject “the molar unit of life” (A. N. Leontiev). Three kinds of correlations between activity and activity can be considered.

Activity as a dynamic generatrix of activity. Considering activity in its development, we must necessarily recognize the existence of such changes introduced by the subject into the system of his relations with the world, which would act as the basis for emerging activity. The peculiarity of these processes lies in the fact that they originate in the subject itself, are generated by it, but their form is entirely determined by objective relations independent of the subject. Activity is revealed here as the possibility of activity presented in movement. The movement conditioned by the subject, as it were, absorbs the world, acquiring the forms of objective activity. Speaking about the generation of a mental image, we explained this by the example of the movement of a hand that copies the shape of an object. Special studies of activity give grounds to believe that its motives and goals are also originally born as a result of the "contact" of a living human movement and surrounding circumstances. Thus, activity is a dynamic generatrix of activity in the course of the formation of its basic structures.

Activity as a dynamic side of activity. Completion of the process of formation of activity does not mean its emancipation from activity. The latter now acts in two ways. First of all, as something in which the course of activity reveals itself. In contrast to motivational, target, instrumental and other relations that fix the static (“structural)” side of activity, activity characterizes its dynamic side. Activity is a movement in which the indicated relations are realized.

The dynamic side of activity (activity), however, is not limited to the processes of the latter's flow, i.e., such processes in which the structures of activity already accumulated in the experience of the subject (or appropriated by him) are deployed. The phenomena of activity should also include what was designated by A. N. Leontiev as “intrasystemic transitions” in activity (“shift of a motive to a goal”, the transformation of an initial activity into an action that realizes relations of a more developed form of activity, etc. ). In these transitions, the development of activity is carried out.

Activity as an extended reproduction of activity. In the most general terms, the expanded reproduction of activity can be defined as a process of enrichment of the motives, goals and means of the original activity, as well as the mental image that mediates its course. But what does "enrichment of motives, goals, means and mental image" mean?

Obviously, we should not talk about the fact that the motives, goals, means and mental image in the systemic organization of developed activity are similar (equivalent, equivalent) to the original motive, goal, means and mental image and simply expand their spectrum: the development of activity is expressed in deepening its motives, the elevation of goals, the improvement of the means used, the improvement of the mental image. New and previous moments of activity are not symmetrical. Thus, a new motive of activity, as it were, grows out of the previous one and contains it in itself in the form of a necessary, but not exhaustive part of it. Following a new motive implies the implementation of the previous motive by the subject, but at the same time, the satisfaction of the need that initially initiated the behavior does not guarantee the possibility of implementation.

a new motive that has arisen in the activity. Achieving the originally adopted goal is necessary, but not yet sufficient to achieve the newly set goal. The solution of the original problem with the use of tools that have proven their suitability stimulates the formulation of a new problem, but in itself does not yet provide means for solving this problem. The emerging mental image of the situation not only contains the image on the basis of which the initial activity was regulated, but also surpasses it.

The developed form of activity, therefore, not only implies (implies) the possibility of realizing the basic relations of the original activity, but also means the generation of relations that go beyond the initial ones. The new activity contains the original one, but eliminates its inherent limitations and, as it were, rises above it. What happens is what we define as expanded reproduction of activity.

The processes that carry out the expanded reproduction of activity cover the course of the latter and characterize its internal dynamics. That is why the understanding of activity as the dynamic side of activity does not lose its strength here, but it takes on a new form. Let us fix it in the following definition: activity is an extended reproduction of activity conditioned by an individual.

And, finally, activity at its highest level is defined by us as the transition of the previous form of activity at the highest point of its development to a new form of activity. This transition sometimes appears in the form of a "jump", which marks the formation of an essentially new activity.

So, activity in the systemic organization of activity occupies a different place: 1. Activity is a dynamic “formative” activity (it ensures the objectification of needs, goal setting, the appropriation of “psychological tools”, the formation of attitudes, the formation of a mental image, etc.); 2. Activity - the dynamic side of the activity (the processes of the implementation of the activity and "intra-system transitions" in it - the shift of the motive to the goal, etc.); 3. Activity - a moment of expanded reproduction of activity (its motives, goals, means, mental image mediating the course of activity) and - a "leap" to qualitatively different forms of activity.

The foregoing allows us to characterize the connection between activity and activity within the limits of a single definition in the following way. Activity is a set of moments of movement conditioned by an individual that ensure the formation, implementation, development and modification of activity.

The condition for defining the concept of "activity" in a more special sense is the distinction between the processes of realization of activity and the processes of movement of the activity itself, its self-change. The processes of carrying out activities include moments of movement that are part of the motivational, target "units" and operational constituents of activity and transitions between them. Self-activity, in contrast to the processes of carrying out activities, form

moments of the progressive movement of the activity itself (its formation, development and modification).

The moments of the implementation of activity and the moments of the progressive movement of the latter act as from the side of a single whole. They are grouped around the same subject, which, according to A. N. Leontiev, is the main, “constituting” characteristic of activity. “At the same time, the object of activity acts in two ways: primarily-in its independent existence as subordinating and transforming the activity of the subject, secondarily-as an image of an object, as a product of a mental reflection of its properties, which is realized as a result of the activity of the subject and cannot be realized otherwise. Note that here in the definition of the objectivity of activity, the fact of the initial independence of its subject from

The category of activity in domestic psychology is central. The content of this particular category helps to understand the secret of the psyche, including the human soul. The adoption of this category as the main paradigm orients the researcher not to the content of ready-made structures of consciousness, but to the process as a result of which they arise, and, consequently, leads to a deeper understanding of their nature. The activity approach in psychology indicates that the basis of mental formations is not a passive contemplation of the surrounding reality, but an active and continuous interaction with it, that it is as a result of this interaction that ideal formations are born, in which are equally represented as properties of the subject himself and his organism, and properties of objects of the surrounding world.


Activitythere isis our definition.
And. Kant

The category of activity in domestic psychology is used not so much as a subject of psychological analysis, but as an explanatory principle in the analysis of mental phenomena and processes. This principle does not contradict the three explanatory principles mentioned in the first chapter. Rather, it is a development and continuation of the principle of systemicity, since the Principle of activity considers mental functioning as a systemic organization of mental processes, states and personality traits, this organization is aimed at fulfilling


Chapter 9. Activities and capabilities
some specific task of transforming reality or adapting to it. At the same time, activity is also understood as a specifically human, objective, historically conditioned form of activity. As an explanatory principle, the category of activity is used to describe the emergence of mental phenomena in general and their different levels in particular.
Here it would be appropriate to recall what was said at the very beginning - the properties of objects are revealed only in the process of their interaction with each other. Consequently, the properties of the objects of the surrounding world in the form in which they appear before the subject are the result of his interaction with them. Such properties of objects as "red", "heavy", "warm", "small", "round" undoubtedly represent the properties of objects and properties, if not of the subject, then at least of the organism; and in such properties as “pleasant” or “unpleasant”, “necessary” or “unnecessary”, the qualities of the subject rather than the object as such are present to a greater extent. Meanwhile, all these qualities are nothing but mental formations in which the object is given to the subject. In order for them to arise, the subject needs to come into contact with the object - see, pick up, touch, feel, “listen” to the changes in the state of internal organs that arise in this case, assess the degree of need for the object, i.e. perform a series of actions with him.
Actions, as a result of which knowledge about an object is born, is necessary
organize in a certain way. What organizes these actions of the subject,
what are they heading for? In answering this question, we
_____________ are faced with the omnipresent duality of the nature of cognition.


Physicalworld,
existing
regardlessfrom
perception, maybe
havecertain
structuralresemblance
withthe worldour
perceptions.
B. Russell

tion: the actions of the subject are directed both by the needs and properties of the subject's organism, and by the properties of the object. For example, the shape of a ball can be reproduced in mental structures only if the subject has the ability to feel it, i.e. physically liken the structure of his actions to the structural property of the object - its spherical shape. It is known from experiments and observations that organisms deprived of such an opportunity do not form mental images in which the shape of objects is displayed. In the experiments of Held and Hein, it was shown that kittens that had the ability to see objects from the moment of birth, but did not have the opportunity to touch them with their paws, could not further visually distinguish the shape of objects.
The secret of the psyche lies in the fact that only as a result of the active actions of the subject, associated with the likening of the structures of the body to the structural properties of the object, the structural characteristics of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world are reproduced in ideal mental structures. The mental image "red color" is an active reproduction in the structure of nerve potentials of the length (i.e., structural characteristic) of an electromagnetic radiation wave equal to 700 nm. In all mental images, which are the result of active actions of the organism, either the structural characteristics of the objects themselves are reproduced, or the structural changes that occur in the organism itself at the moment of interaction with the object. In light and color


9.1. Category activities in psychology
the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation is reproduced, in smells and taste - the molecular structure of chemicals, in sensations of pressure and heaviness - the structure of changes in body tissues, due to the force of pressure and the mass of the object, in sound - the structure of sound waves, in sensations emanating from internal organs - functional and organic changes in body structure.
Consequently, the secret of the psyche is connected with the activity of the organism, and the activity of the organism is connected with the secret of life, one of the characteristics of which is activity. The activity of life itself is the basis of the activity of the subject. The active interaction of the subject with the object leads to the emergence of mental structures. That is why they say that a mental image (more precisely, its content) is born not in the depths of the brain, but on the sensory surface at the moment of its contact with the object.
The importance of continuous contact with the outside world for ___________


Structuralcharacteristicsfacilities andphenomenasurroundingpeacereproducefoundinidealmentalstructureraxonlyinresultthoseactivesubject's actions, associated withassimilationstructuresbody structuralminesvamobject.

maintaining normal mental functioning is confirmed by experiments on the so-called strict sensory isolation. The purpose of the experiments is to find out how mental processes change under conditions of maximum restriction of human contacts with the outside world. With the maximum limitation of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and other sensations at the same time, after a while, a violation of normal mental activity is observed up to its complete disorganization. In animals under such conditions, there is a cessation of all activity - they fall into a stupor. Unfortunately, this is the only thing we can learn about the state of their psyche under these conditions.
Since both the properties of the object and the properties of the subject are simultaneously represented in the mental image, but at the same time it is the subject that acts as an active side in this process, we can say that the complexity of mental structures, i.e. the complexity of the knowledge of the subject about the world will depend on the complexity forms of interaction with the objects of the world. This circumstance was first noticed by American scientists Newell and Simon. They argue that the complexity of behavior is directly related to the complexity of the conditions accompanying the purposeful activity of living organisms. The complexity of behavior reflects the complexity of those psychological structures by which behavior is controlled. This position can be illustrated by the following facts. A frog is a rather complex organism with a sufficiently developed brain (compared, for example, with the nerve ganglia of a bee). However, the frog is not able to visually recognize the shape of objects. This is explained by the fact that in order to provide its body with food, it is enough for a frog, reflecting reality at the level of visual sensations, to accurately and quickly respond only to the location of an insect flying past it (a small object), the shape of which does not matter. A simple structure of actions with an object in this case leads to the formation of simple spectators.


Chapter 9. Activityandcapabilities
ny images. In bees, however, obtaining food is associated with the implementation of very complex actions, and the reproduction of the shape of an object in actions plays an important role in this process. As a result, complex visual mental structures are formed in bees, allowing them to distinguish, for example, the geometric shapes of objects, which is completely inaccessible to a frog.
The conclusion that the complexity of mental structures, including that of a person, depends on the complexity or richness of his active actions with the objects of the surrounding world, has a very important consequence for pedagogy; the complexity and richness of the knowledge and skills of the student depends on the degree of his activity in independent interaction with the educational material.
Since "activity" is a term, it is necessary to understand its meaning, try to define this meaning and show its specificity in comparison with such related concepts as "action", "movement", "activity", "operation".


Under"human
activities", we
understandbefore
Totalconscious,
purposeful
activityhuman,
whichmaybe
debunkas
inphysical
space, Soand
inspace
mentalimages.

To separate the philosophical concepts of "movement", "activity", "life activity" and "activity", M. S. Kagan proposes to correlate them with the complexity of the forms of motion of matter. The term motion is proposed to designate the universal property of matter. With the advent of life as a form of existence of matter, a new form of movement appears, which is proposed to be designated by the term activity. The author proposes to call the form of movement that characterizes the activity of animals life activity. And, finally, only purposeful human activity is proposed to be called activity. To eliminate some rigidity in the definition of the concept of “activity” that arises with such a strict approach, we can agree with the definition of the well-known Russian psychologist G.V. human activity)".
A distinctive characteristic of human activity is the conscious goal-setting underlying it. Only a person can set conscious goals for himself and accordingly build his behavior to achieve them. Therefore, conscious activity is specifically human. This does not mean,
that unconscious mental formations do not take part in human activity. It only means that when we use the term "human activity", we mean, first of all, the conscious, purposeful activity of a person, which can unfold both in the physical space and in the space of mental images. Unconscious needs, values ​​of categories of objects and even goals also take part in human activity, but they are not its essential characteristic, but belong to the area of ​​the unconscious, often impulsive, not always consistent and understandable area of ​​human life.


9.2. macrostructure activities



9.2. Macrostructure of activity


Action- purposefulassetsness, boundwithachievementprivategoalsatimplementphenomenonmorewideactivities.

Human activity has a complex genetic, functional and structural nature. It has its origins, "causes" and more or less definite structural and functional organization. Its composition, which we will discuss below, is multicomponent. Its implementation involves mental processes, states and personality traits of different levels of complexity. Depending on the goals, this activity can last for years or even a lifetime. However, no matter how complex it may be, no matter how long it lasts, it can be described using universal units, which reflect not a meaningful, but a structural-level approach to its description. The units of activity, which are its smaller fragments, but at the same time retain the specifics of its psychological content, are those of its elements that are fixed in the concepts of action and operation.
Thus, human activity has a multilevel character. Its highest integrative level is the actual activity, determined by the motive and directed by the “general” goal corresponding to this motive. Achieving this goal is always accompanied by the emergence of private problems, the solution of which is associated with the setting of private goals. Purposeful activity associated with the achievement of private goals in the implementation of a broader activity, it is customary in psychology to call actions. And, finally, the most elementary structural level of activity is the operation - that specific set and sequence of movements that is determined by the specific conditions of interaction with objects in the process of performing actions (for example, the physical properties of the object, location, orientation in space, accessibility, etc.) .
Operation - a specific set and sequence of movements, which is determined by the specific conditions of interaction with objects in the process of performing actions
The relationship between activity, action and operations can be illustrated by the following example. Suppose a schoolboy had a strong motive - to design such a model of an aircraft that would fly faster than other models known to him, would be more maneuverable and controlled from the ground. The creation of such a model is the general goal that will determine the structure of all activities related to its achievement. To achieve this goal, our student needs to solve many particular problems: study the relevant literature, consult with knowledgeable people, purchase the necessary materials and tools, design and present the future model in the drawings, make and assemble the model, test it in flight. The solution of each of these problems is associated with the formulation of specific


L80 Chapter 9. Activityandcapabilities
other private purposes, for example, "to make a model according to a drawing." The practical achievement of this particular goal is the action as a unit of his activity. The production of a model, in turn, is possible due to the performance of operations (for example, sawing, gluing, etc.), each of which no longer depends on the goals of the activity and action, but on specific conditions - the properties of the material being processed, the shape and characteristics of tools, the properties of glue etc. Despite the fact that the operations themselves are determined by the conditions in which the actions are carried out, their appearance in the structure of the student's activity is ultimately determined by the general goal that he has set for himself, and therefore they are included in the structure of this activity. and are its elementary units.
Representation of purposeful human activity in the form of such an ordered hierarchical structure; activity-action-operation is rather conditional, since both actions and individual operations can also be considered as separate activities, each of which is motivated, has a goal and a certain functional organization, universal for any level of purposeful activity. At the same time, such a representation is convenient, since it allows one to single out those specific grounds that distinguish these levels from each other and thus understand the meaning of activity at any given moment. Such a structural-level approach describes the macrostructure of human activity. Along with it, an approach is used that analyzes the internal structure, the “internal architectonics” (P. K. Anokhin) of activity, which, as just mentioned, is universal in nature and remains unchanged and mandatory for any level of purposeful activity.
9.3. Internal structure of activity
The description and understanding of the internal structure of activity allows a deeper understanding of the role and significance of individual mental processes and functions in the organization of a holistic, purposeful human behavior and thus opens up opportunities for conscious analysis and correction of behavior if it turns out to be insufficiently effective. Understanding the internal organization of activities can increase the effectiveness of the learning process, as well as the assimilation of new knowledge and skills by students. The general patterns of organization of purposeful activity were established by Russian physiologists A. N. Bernshtein (when studying the organization of movements) and P. K. Anokhin (when studying brain activity at the neuronal level). Later, P.K. Anokhin formulated a general theory of functional systems, which, according to the author, is


Philosophical prerequisites for introducing the concept of activity (D) into psychology:

1. Hegel gives principle D (characteristic of the absolute spirit associated with the immanent need for self-change) a structurally detailed expression through categories goals, means, results. « The subject is the activity of satisfying instincts».

2. Marx saw the specifics of human D in its production nature, labor. Influencing the external nature, a person changes his own nature (ANL: "people in their social nature D produce their own consciousness"). “The product of labor is labor fixed in an object, it is objectification of labor". "Each of the human relations to the world - sight, hearing, smell, desire, D - all the organs of his individuality are in their objective relation, in their relation to the object, the appropriation of the latter, the appropriation of human reality." Criticism of previous materialism: the subject and reality are taken in the form of an object or contemplation, and not as a human D, practice.

Theoretical and methodological prerequisites for the theory of activity (TA):

· Overcoming the postulate of immediacy by introducing the category of objective D - "a specifically human form of an active relationship to the world around, the content of which is the expedient change and transformation of this world on the basis of the development and development of existing forms of culture" (Yudin). (The postulate of immediacy was described by Uznadze as a hypothesis of immediacy, “when it is accepted, behavior is carried out in addition to the complicity of the subject, the personality as a specific integrity”).

· Idea D as unity of processes reflections and transformations reality

· Idea unity" external" and "internal» forms D and the formation of the "internal" through the internalization of the "external"

· Idea unity of subjective and objective , individual and social in D and through D

· Historical and genetic principle of analysis, which implements a systematic approach in the sense of Marx. (System analysis is an analysis of the movement that generates phenomena, i.e. the disclosure of the substance of these phenomena, their essence)

(ANL) Activity is “a molar unit of a person's individual existence, which implements one or another of his life relations, i.e. a holistic, non-additive system with a multi-level organization”.

Uznadze (a student of Wundt): “All activity is the relationship of the subject to reality”, “Activity always has an objective character”, “Influencing it directly, reality sets the person to action in relation to the object - on this basis, the subject deploys expedient acts of behavior.” Uznadze's behavior is "intentional, objective, molar". Installation - a stabilization mechanism D. Installations: semantic, target, operational, and the level of psychophysiological mechanisms - implementers of the installation.

Blonsky saw the task of psychology in the study of behavior. What did he mean by this concept? Behavior is an action, an act. “Social production is the basis on which the behavior of mankind is based. Marxist perspective”. not a behaviorist: the subject of psychology should include all factors that influence behavior. "The behavior of the individual is a function of the behavior of the surrounding society."

Basov in 1926 introduced the concept of ACTIVITY into psi. He introduced the idea of ​​a specific structure, fundamental planning and purposefulness of D.

LSV. “The fact that we are aware of our psyche is derived from the active nature of our reactions.” He spoke about "the peculiarity of man's active labor adaptation of nature to himself, as opposed to the passive adaptation of animals to the environment." Piaget LSV criticizes for the “lack of practical activity of the child”, separation from practice during socialization. Roll call with Marx: "objects of the surrounding world, as it were, require certain actions from us." Roll call with the ANL: "the human personality is a hierarchy of activities, of which not all are associated with consciousness" + the concept of "leading type D" (in relation to the game at preschool age). LSV criticizes Levin for contrasting two "sorts" of D: thinking and real D in an actual situation and says that there are two unities of dynamic functions : thinking and real D.

Rubinstein criticized the ANL for the theory and periodization of the development of the psyche and for considering D as an initial concept. “Since D acts as a relationship between the subject D and the surrounding world, it is impossible to declare D to be leading and determining.” “Actually, action and D are practically material processes that are not determined by psychological criteria.” Rubinstein considered D and being separately, incoherently. In the late 1950s, the position softened. He writes that "the main way the existence of the mental is its existence as a process, as D". Distinguishes D and process. “D is a process through which one or another relation of a person to the world around is realized.” "Psychology studies not only mental D, but also mental processes." "When explaining any mental phenomena, a person acts as a set of internal conditions connected together, through which all external influences are refracted." The idea arises about the mode of existence of the mental as D.

Milestones of TD according to Leontiev

By the early 1940s:

1. Practical D child, realizing the child's attitude to reality, is the formative force of his consciousness. In D - the unity of the subject and reality

2. The main opposition is not “external” and “internal”, but "image" and "process". The image lags behind the process. Master the tool, meaning = process, operation.

3. Subject of psychologyD of the subject in relation to reality, mediated by the reflection of this reality. Display = experience. That is, psi studies how reality becomes an experience of the subject.

4. D structural. Formers: subject, object, motive, means, task. These are non-psychological concepts. Correlates: for a product - a goal, for a motive - a need, for a means and a mode of action - a meaning, for a task - an intention. Units D - D, action, operation.

5. Separation of types D: game, work, ..., forms D: practical, theoretical.

6. D - the highest form of life.

7. Forms of experience the essence of the form of experiencing meaning D.

8. The Problem of Personality- the problem of interconnection of activities. Moving from "acting to meet needs" to "meeting needs in order to act in order to do one's life's work".

9. Genesis of action related to dismemberment of the joint production D people etc. awareness of the purpose of the action, method and tool. Preparation phase, implementation phase. The condition of this reflection is language.

By the age of 60 (“Problems of development of the psyche”):

1. D - the process that carries out the life of the subject

2. The development of D leads to the emergence mental reflection of reality

3. D - the process that translates the reflected into a reflection

4. Mental reflection mediates and controls D

5. Mental reflection in a person crystallizes in the products of D.

By the 70s ("DSL")

1. Consciousness- system of internal regulation of processes D.

2. Mental reflection of reality - its subjective image

3. D enters the subject of psychology with its special function - the positing of the subject in objective reality and its transformation into a form of subjectivity

4. Repetition after LSV of the idea of ​​the internalization of the HMF. Internalization is the process of forming an internal “plan of consciousness”.

5. The main distinction: not the external world and the world of internal phenomena (Descartes - Locke), but the objective reality and D of the subject.

6. Personality- Hierarchy of Children and their motives. The personality of a person (as opposed to an individual) is generated by D.

Galperin. An attempt to understand the relationship between internal and external D led to the formation hypotheses of the phased formation of mental actions. Mental D is the result of the transfer of external material actions to the plane of reflection - to the plane of perception, ideas and concepts. Formation of the orienting basis of action- the main task and content of the first stage of the action formation. "The system of reflected forms of objective action constitutes the specific content of mental D, hidden behind various mental phenomena." In a discussion in 1969, Galperin pointed out that in TD operational side D; it is shown that the action affects the formation of mental formations, but not shown how. “The absence of a psychological theory about the subject, operational content of D was rooted in an indefinite “classical” idea of ​​the subject of psychology.

9. Activity as a generic quality of a person and a constitutive characteristic of the specifics and features of his psychology and "mechanisms" of mental development.

Activity- this is a specific type of human activity aimed at the knowledge and creative transformation of the surrounding world, including oneself and the conditions of one's existence. Human activity differs from animal activity in that 1) it is productive, creative, creative, and animal activity has a consumer basis; 2) it transforms him himself; 3) associated with objects of material and spiritual culture.

The initial variant of activity, the simplest in its structure, will be an unmediated variant of the organism's interaction with the environment. The subsequent development (and, accordingly, complication) of activity is associated with a change in its structure - the emergence of mediated forms. The specificity of labor as a truly human activity, in contrast to the activity of animals, is that it is "a process mediated by a tool and at the same time socially mediated." The emphasis was placed on the second factor - the collective nature of the activity. The role of the division of labor that appears in a person is also important. The third stage - when not a tool that improves, increases the capabilities of organs, and not another member of the community, but a tool that replaces this other, is a specific human way of mediating activity. Thus, the description of the main stages of the evolution of activity should be supplemented by another, qualitatively new stage, during which the structure of activity was enriched by a third mediating link - tools, the function of which, unlike the natural tools of the previous stage, is to replace other representatives of the community and, consequently, to exclusion of social mediation. The structure of mental activity at the third stage is qualitatively different from the structure of the activity of the previous stages, characteristic of the animal world, and is universal for all representatives of mankind. Specific to human activity is also its creative nature. The description of an activity specific to a person can be supplemented with new relationships. For example, the consistent development of activity is associated not only with the introduction of new mediating links, but also with subject and object transformations.

DEFINITION: Activity - a dynamic system of interactions of the subject with the world, during which the emergence and embodiment of a mental image in the object and the realization of the relations of the subject mediated by it in objective reality take place.

Any type of activity is inextricably linked with movements, regardless of whether it is the musculoskeletal movements of the hand when writing, labor, or the movement of the speech apparatus when pronouncing words.

According to the form of activity

distinguish between action and movement.

Action- an element of activity aimed at performing one simple current task.

Motion is an integral part of the action.

Despite the external diversity, all human movements are usually composed of three simple elements - "take", "move", "release" - in combination with auxiliary movements of the body, legs, head. In different types of movements, these elements differ in their trajectory, duration, strength, speed, pace and what parts of the body they are performed.

From the point of view of the quality of movement, they are characterized by accuracy, accuracy, dexterity and coordination.

In addition to object movements, human activities involve movements that ensure the installation of the body and maintaining the posture, movement and communication. The means of communication include expressive movements (facial expressions and pantomimics), semantic gestures, and finally, speech movements.

From the point of view of physiology, all human movements can be divided into two groups:

Main characteristics of activity

it is objectivity and subjectivity.

The specificity of the objective certainty of activity lies in the fact that the objects of the external world do not affect the subject directly, but only when they are transformed in the process of activity, due to which a greater adequacy of their reflection in consciousness is achieved. The phylogenetic prerequisites for objectivity are manifested in the activity of animals as its conditionality by the properties of objects - the key stimuli that serve to satisfy biological needs, and not by any influences from the outside world. In a developed form, objectivity is characteristic only of human activity. It manifests itself in the social conditionality of human activity, in its connection with the meanings fixed in the schemes of action, in the concepts of language, in values, in roles and social norms.

The subjectivity of activity is expressed in such aspects of the activity of the subject as the conditionality of the mental image by past experience, needs, attitudes, emotions, goals and motives that determine the direction and selectivity of activity, and in the personal sense - “meaning for oneself”, attached by motives to various events, actions and deeds.

When analyzing activities

There are three plans for its consideration:

1) genetic- in it, the initial form of any human activity is joint social activity, and internalization acts as a mechanism for the development of the psyche, during which there is a transition from an external form of activity to internal activity;

2) structural-functional- the basis of such consideration of the structure of activity is the principle of analysis "by units": the decomposition of reality into "units" containing the main properties inherent in it as a whole.

3) dynamic- here, when considering activity, the mechanisms that ensure the movement of the activity itself are studied: supra-situational activity, which determines the self-development of activity and the emergence of its new forms; an attitude that determines the stability of purposeful activity in a changing reality.
For domestic psychology A.N. Leontiev will remain the author of the original psychological theory of activity.

The main points of the theory of Leontiev's activity

1) the position on the unity of the psyche and activity, which opposes domestic psychology both to various variants of the psychology of consciousness that studied the psyche outside of behavior (for example, such as: introspective psychology; Gestalt psychology), and to various naturalistic currents of behavioral psychology that explore behavior outside the psyche (such as : behaviorism; neobehaviorism);

2) the introduction of the principles of development and historicism, the embodiment of which in specific studies necessarily implies an appeal to activity as the driving force behind the development of mental reflection.