Leontiev's Activity Theory Approach to Psychology:

Activity as the "molar unit of life" and his "levels of psyche"

Paul F. Ballantyne, Ph.D.
pballan@comnet.ca

Introduction

The "Activity Theory" approach to psychology proposed by Soviet psychologist A.N. Leontiev (1903-1979) was very much concerned with providing a mental evolutionary account of the continuity and discontinuity between human and animal psychological existence. In the sense that his comparative psychological efforts were aimed at elaborating both 'what we share' and what is the 'distinctive province of human intellect,' his approach should be understood as not only an elaboration of the methodology of other Soviet psychological figures (such as Vygotsky and Luria) but also an extension of emergent evolutionary themes found in the works of earlier "Western" figures such as George Romanes and C. Lloyd Morgan.

Romanes and Morgan (working within the early years of comparative psychological analysis), encountered considerable philosophical and empirical limitations when attempting to both name and elaborate the exact nature of the serial mental evolutionary transmutation of the levels they proposed (see Tolman, 1987a). In contrast, Leontiev's direct historical connection with the Vygotskian tradition and his knowledge of the subsequent cumulative comparative psychology record of empirical results allowed him to do so in great detail (see Leontyev, Problems of Development of the Mind 1959/1981).

Alexei Nikolaevich (Leontyev) Leontiev (1903-1979).

The best introduction to the disciplinary import and the initial comparative psychology application of A.N. Leontiev's Activity Theory approach was presented by Charles Tolman (1987b). I have therefore provided various links to that important article.

Within his lifetime, however, Leontiev also applied his Activity Theory approach to the area of personality theory (see his Activity, Consciousness, and Personality 1978). For a partial account of the subsequent disciplinary implications of Leontiev's approach to personality see Ballantyne, (1995).

General and Specific Definitions of "Activity"

As the name of his approach indicates, the emphasis is on the analytical concept of "Activity" (in it's general and specific evolutionary manifestations) rather than on the more familiar terms such as behavior, mental states, or even cognition.

*The present page is intended to: (1) provide a quick reference for the general definition of the concept of "Activity" (as used by A.N. Leontyev); and to (2) depict the various 'levels of psyche' he used in Problems of Development of the Mind (1959; English transl. 1981).

"Activity [in its generic sense] is the nonadditive, molar unit of life for the material, corporeal subject. In a narrower sense (i.e., on the psychological level) it is the unit of life that is mediated by mental reflection. The real function of this unit is to orient the subject in the world of objects. In other words, activity is not a reaction or aggregate of reactions, but a system with its own structure, its own internal transformations, and its own development" (Leontyev, in Wertsch, 1979, p. 46; emphasis added).

Basic "Structure" and terms used with regard to Human Activity:

Activity (in human beings) is governed by its motive/motives: The man is engaged in a communal hunt because he wants to feed his family.

Actions are governed by their goals: The man performs the role of "beater" (the goal being to scare the prey away from himself and toward the other members of the hunting party).

Operations are governed by the conditions of the hunt. How he carries out the various tasks involved in his role will depend upon the terrain, kind of game-animal sought, wind direction, the weather, the season of the year, etc.

Leontiev's stages of animal and human psyche

*Tolman (1987b) outlines the immediate prospects for the discipline of comparative psychology proper and details each of the "psychical" stages (as portrayed by Leontiev) very carefully in the process.

*Tolman's The basic vocabulary of Activity Theory, (1988b) provides primary source quotations for the various terms used in Activity Theory including: Activity, Goal, Appropriation, Conditions, Instinct, Interiorisation, Meaning, Motive, Need, Objectification, Operation, Psyche, Reflection, Sense.

*In 1992 an "International Society for Cultural-historical Research and Activity Theory" (ISCRAT) was formally established. It aimed to promote "multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical research on societal, cultural and historical dimensions of human activity."

*ISCRAT was dialectically transcended in 2002 and now appears as ISCAR (International Society for Cultural and Activity Research).

Various edited books resulted from those efforts:

Engeström, Y. (Ed.). (1999). Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge University Press.

Chaiklin,S. et al., (Eds.). (1999). Activity Theory and Social Practice: Cultural-Historical. Aarhus University Press.

Hedegaard, M. & Lompscher, J. (Eds.). (1999). Learning Activity and Development. Aarhus University Press.

Chaiklin, S. (Ed.). (2001). The Theory and Practice of Cultural-Historical Psychology. Aarhus University Press.

Hedegaard, M. (Ed.). (2001). Learning in Classrooms: A Cultural-Historical Approach. Aarhus University Press

 

 

*Paul Ballantyne provides a major expansion -and psychologization- of Leontiev's original stages, reconstituting them as "Transformative Levels of Animal and Human Mentality" at the end of Chapter 8 of his Psychology, Society, and Ability Testing (1859-2002). The intent there is to indicate that the Activity Theory approach is one of many "transformative" accounts to mental evolution which were put forward throughout the 20th century as alternatives to both Mental Darwinism and interactionism in psychology.

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*Activity Theory Related Links:

(2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

(7) -reading list link, (8), (9)

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Information Technology in Human Activity
Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems
Volume 12 [Special Issue]
August 2000

Edited by Olav W. Bertelsen and Susanne Bødker

.pdf files of the papers available.

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Ballantyne, P. (1995). From Initial Abstractions to a Concrete Concept of Personality. In I. Lubek, et al. (Eds.). Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology. Vol.4., pp.150-160. New York: Springer.

Joravsky, D. (1989). Russian Psychology: A critical history. Cambridge Mass: Basil Blackwell.

Leontiev, A.N. (1978). Activity, Consciousness, and Personality. Hillsdale: Prentice-Hall.

Leontyev, [Leontiev], A.N. (1981). Problems of the Development of the Mind. (Trans. M. Kopylova). Moscow: Progress Publishers. [*see extracts from: "The problem of the origin of sensation", pp. 7-53; "An outline of the evolution of the psyche , pp. 156-326 "]

Petrovsky, A. (1990). Psychology in the Soviet Union: An historical outline. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

Tolman, C.W. (1987a). Theories of Mental Evolution in Comparative Psychology: Darwin to Watson. (15-23). In E. Tobach (Ed.). Historical Perspectives and the International Status of Comparative Psychology. Hillsdale: LEA.

Tolman, C.W. (1987b). The comparative psychology of A.N. Leontyev -U.S.S.R. (203-209). In E. Tobach (Ed.). Historical Perspectives and the International Status of Comparative Psychology. Hillsdale: LEA.

Tolman, C.W. (1988b). The basic vocabulary of Activity Theory. Activity Theory, 1, 14-20.

Tolman, C. (1994). Psychology, Society, and Subjectivity: An Introduction to German Critical Psychology. London: Routledge.

Vygotsky, L. & Luria, A. (1930/1992). Ape, Primitive Man and Child: Essays in the History of Behavior. (Trans. E. Rossiter). Orlando: Paul M. Deutsch.

Vygotsky, L. & Luria, A. (1930/1993). Studies on the History of Behavior: Ape, Primitive, and Child. (Trans. V. Golod & J. Knox). Hillsdale: LEA.

Wertsch, J.V. (Ed.). (1979). The Concept of Activity in Soviet Psychology. New York: N.E. Sharp.

Wertsch, J. (1998). Mind as Action. New York: Oxford University Press.

Posted: [January, 2003; updated January, 2004]