55. Theory of Activity. The structure of consciousness

This theory was created in Soviet psychology. She owes the work of psychologists: L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein, A.N. Leontiev, A.R. Luria, A.V. Zaporozhets, P.Ya. Halperin and many others.

The psychological theory of Activity began to be developed in the 20s - early 30s.

The authors of the theory of Activity have adopted the philosophy of dialectical materialism - the theory of Karl Marx, and above all, its main thesis for psychology that it is not consciousness that determines being, Activity, but, on the contrary, being.A person's activity determines his consciousness.

Activities a person has a complex hierarchical structure. It consists of several levels. Let's call these levels, moving from top to bottom:

The level of special activities (or special types of activities).
Action level.
Operations level.
The level of psychophysiological functions.

Act. It is the basic unit of Activity analysis. Action is a process aimed at realizing a goal. The goal is the image of the desired result, i.e. the result to be achieved in the course of the action.

Characterizing the concept of "action", 4 points can be distinguished:

Action includes, as a necessary component, an act of consciousness in the form of setting and holding a goal. But this act of consciousness is not closed in itself, but is "revealed" in action.
Action is at the same time an act of behavior. These two points are the recognition of the indissoluble unity of consciousness and behavior. This unity is already contained in the main unit of analysis - action.
Through the concept of action, which presupposes an active principle in the subject (in the form of a goal), the psychological theory of Activity affirms the principle of activity.
The concept of "action" "brings" human activity into the objective and social world.

Principles of the Psychological Theory of Activity

Consciousness cannot be considered as closed in itself: it must be deduced in the Activity of the subject.
Behavior cannot be viewed in isolation from human consciousness. The principle of the unity of behavior and consciousness.
Activity is an active, purposeful process (the principle of activity).
Human actions are objective, they realize socio-production and cultural goals (the principle of objectivity of human activity and the principle of its social conditioning).

Purpose - Action

The goal defines the action, the action ensures the realization of the goal. Through the characteristics of the goal, you can also characterize the action.

An operation is a way of performing an action. Operations characterize the technical side of performing actions. The nature of the operations used depends on the conditions in which the action is performed.

The goal given under certain conditions in the theory of Activity is called a task.

The main property of operations is that they are little or not at all.

Any complex action consists of a layer of actions and a layer of "underlying" operations. The unfixed border between the conscious and the unconscious means the fluidity of the border, which separates the layer of actions from operations.

Psychophysiological functions

In the theory of Activity, psychophysiological functions are understood as the physiological support of mental processes (sensory, mnestic, motor functions), as well as innate mechanisms fixed in the morphology of the nervous system.

Psychophysiological functions are both necessary prerequisites and means of Activity.

Psychophysiological functions constitute the organic foundation of the Activity processes. Without reliance on them, it would be impossible not only to perform actions and operations, but also to set the goals themselves.

Activities - specifically human, activity realized by consciousness, generated by needs and aimed at cognition and transformation of the world and the person himself. It is a necessary condition for the formation of the Personality and at the same time depends on the level of development of the Personality.

In the process of Activity, a close interaction with the environment is established.

End result Activity is a goal; the stimulus of Activity is the motive.

The motive gives the Activity specificity in relation to the choice of means and methods of achievement.

Activity is conscious and socially conditioned. It is formed by assimilating social experience and is always mediated.

Activity Structure:

- actions;
- operation;
- psychophysiological functions.

Actions: objective, mental.

Mental Activity - perceptual, mnemonic, cogitative, imaginative (imagination).

The activity has internal and external components:

Inner - mental, psyche; external - objective.

Activity Structural Elements:

Skills - these are ways of performing (successful execution of actions that contribute to the goals and conditions of the Activity).
Skills - the components of the action, formed during the exercise.
Habits is a component of an action, which is based on the need for an Activity.

Three types of Activities:

work;
teaching;
a game.

Means of Activity:

material items;
signs;
symbols;
communication;
tools.

The activity is productive.

The structure of consciousness

Consciousness - the highest form of the psyche, the result of socio-historical conditions. Formation of a person in labor activity with constant social and social interaction with people.

Mental characteristics of consciousness:

Hidden in the very name is co-knowledge, i.e. a body of knowledge about the world around us. So the structure of consciousness includes the most important cognitive processes, with the help of which a person constantly enriches his knowledge.
The difference between the subject ("I" and "NOT-I") is the only one of all animals, a person can explore himself, realize self-knowledge.
Ensuring the goal-setting activity of a person (sets goals for himself, chooses motives, makes volitional decisions, etc.).
The presence of emotional assessments in interpersonal relationships (mother's love for loved ones, hatred for enemies, etc.).

In the structure of activities, first of all, there are goalsand motives.

The goal is understood for the sake of which the person acts, at the same time the motive is understood why the person acts.

Each person has their own incentive reasons, motives for this.

Usually, human activity is determined not by any one motive and one goal, as a whole by a system of goals and motives - the nearest, more separate and general ones. It is important that a person sees not only immediate, but also distant prospects, goals, this gives strength to overcome obstacles.

Activity is assessed by the level of motivation and by its focus (public or narrow-minded motives). It is best when social motives take on a personal meaning.

Any kind of activity is inextricably linked with movements, regardless of whether it will be muscular-muscular movements of the hand when writing, working or the movement of the vocal apparatus when pronouncing words. It is customary to distinguish between action and movement.

Act - an element of activity aimed at performing one simple current task. Movement is an integral part of action.

Despite the outward diversity, all human movements are usually made up 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 in 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, movements are involved in human activity that ensure the installation of the body and the maintenance of posture, movement and communication. The means of communication include expressive movements (facial expressions and pantomime), semantic gestures, and finally, speech movements.

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

- congenital (unconditional reflex) movements;

- acquired (conditioned reflex) movements.

The overwhelming majority of movements a person masters with life experience. Very few movements (screaming, blinking) are congenital. For example, a newborn cannot speak, read, write - these are exactly the movements that he receives with experience.

People have different motor abilities. They are closely related to motor inclinations. For ballet dancers, athletes, singers, actors, motor abilities are brought to such a degree of perfection that they become an object of aesthetic perception.

Thus, in any activity, the following components can be distinguished (components, stages):

- goal setting (awareness of a specific task), work planning; execution, implementation of activities;

- checking the results, correcting errors, comparing the results with the planned ones;

- summing up the results of the activity and its assessment.

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Ministry of General and Professional Education of the Russian Federation

Orsk Industrial Institute

Department of Humanities

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Psychology and pedagogy

Topic: Activity: concept, structure, types

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Orsk-1999

Plan

1. The concept and structure of human activity

2. Types and development of human activity

3. Activity and mental processes

4. Skills, skills and habits

1 ... The concept and structure of human activity

The main, purely external difference between living matter and inanimate, higher life forms from lower, more developed living beings from less developed ones is that the former are much more mobile and active than the latter. Life in all its forms is associated with movements, and as it develops, motor activity acquires more and more perfect forms. Elementary, simplest living creatures are much more active than the most complexly organized plants. This refers to the variety and speed of movement, the ability to move in space at different distances. The simplest can live only in the aquatic environment, amphibians go out onto land, worm-like live on the ground and underground, birds rise into the sky. A person is able to create conditions for himself and live in any environment and anywhere in the world (and in recent years outside the Earth). Not a single living creature is able to compare with him in diversity, distribution and forms of activity.

Plant activity is practically limited by the exchange of substances with the environment. Animal activity includes the elementary forms of exploring this environment and learning. Human activity is very diverse. In addition to all the species and forms characteristic of animals, it contains a special form called activity.

Activities can be defined as a specific type of human activity aimed at cognition and creative transformation of the surrounding world, including himself and the conditions of his existence. In activities, a person creates objects of material and spiritual culture, transforms his abilities, preserves and improves nature, builds society, creates something that did not exist in nature without his activity. The creative nature of human activity is manifested in the fact that thanks to it he goes beyond the limits of his natural limitations, i.e. surpasses its own genotypically determined capabilities. As a result of the productive, creative nature of his activities, man has created sign systems, tools for influencing himself and nature. Using these tools, he built a modern society, cities, machines, with their help he produced new consumer goods, material and spiritual culture, and ultimately transformed himself. The historical progress that has taken place over the past several tens of thousands of years owes its origin precisely to activity, and not to the improvement of the biological nature of people.

Modern man lives surrounded by such objects, none of which is a pure creation of nature.

To all such objects, especially at work and in everyday life, the hands and mind of a person turned out to be applied to one degree or another, so they can be considered the material embodiment of human abilities. In them, as it were, the achievements of the mind of people are objectified. The assimilation of ways of dealing with such objects, their inclusion in activity acts as a person's own development. All of this human activity differs from animal activitythat do not produce anything of the kind: no clothes, no furniture, no cars, no sign systems, no tools, no vehicles, and much more. To satisfy their needs, animals use only what nature has provided them.

In other words, human activity manifests itself and continues in creations, it is productive, and not just consumer in nature.

Having given birth to and continuing to improve consumer goods, a person, in addition to abilities, develops his needs. Once connected with the objects of material and spiritual culture, people's needs acquire a cultural character.

Activities person is fundamentally different from activity animals and in another respect. If the activity of animals is caused by natural needs, then human activity is mainly generated and supported by artificial needs arising from the appropriation of the achievements of cultural and historical development of people of the present and previous generations. These are the needs for knowledge (scientific and artistic), creativity, moral self-improvement, and others.

Forms and methods of human organization activities also differ from activity animals. Almost all of them are associated with complex motor skills and abilities that animals do not have - skills and abilities acquired as a result of conscious, purposeful, organized learning. From early childhood, the child is specially taught to use household items in a human way (fork, spoon, clothes, chair, table, soap, toothbrush, pencil, paper, etc.), various tools that transform the movements of the limbs given by nature ... They begin to obey the logic of the objects with which a person deals. Objective activity arises, which differs from the natural activity of animals.

The system of movements performed by animals is determined by the anatomical and physiological structure of the body. With objects of human material culture (book, pencil, spoon, etc.), animals are treated as if they were ordinary natural objects, regardless of their cultural purpose and the way people use them. In humans, the very movements of the arms and legs are transformed, obeying the rules of the culture of using the corresponding objects, i.e. become artificial, more perfect and socially conditioned.

Animals only consume what is given to them by nature. Man, on the contrary, creates more than consumes. If his activity, as well as the activity of animals, were mainly of a consumer nature, then several tens of generations of people would not have been able to achieve such progress in a historically relatively short period of time, create a grandiose world of spiritual and material culture. All this is due to the active nature of human activity.

So, the main differences between human activity and animal activity boil down to the following:

1. Human activity is productive, creative, constructive. The activity of animals has a consumer basis; as a result, it does not produce or create anything new in comparison with what is given by nature.

2. Human activity is associated with objects of material and spiritual culture, which are used by him or as tools, or as items to satisfy needs, or as a means of his own development. For animals, human tools and means of satisfying needs as such do not exist.

3. Human activity transforms him, his abilities, needs, living conditions. The activity of animals practically does not change anything either in themselves or in the external conditions of life.

4. Human activity in its various forms and means of realization is a product of history. The activity of animals appears as a result of their biological evolution.

5. Objective activity of people from birth is not given to them. It is "given" in the cultural purpose and the way of using the surrounding objects. Such activities need to be shaped and developed in training and education. The same applies to the internal, neurophysiological, and psychological structures that govern the external side of practical activity. The activity of animals is initially set, genotypically determined and unfolds as the body naturally matures.

Activities differs not only from activitybut also from behavior... Behavior is not always purposeful, does not imply the creation of a specific product, and is often passive. Activities are always purposeful, active, aimed at creating a certain product. Behavior is spontaneous ("where it will lead"), activity is organized; behavior is chaotic, activity is systematic.

Human activity has the following main characteristics: motive, purpose, object, structure and facilities . Motive activity is what prompts it, for the sake of which it is carried out. The motive is usually a specific need, which is satisfied in the course and with the help of this activity.

The motives of human activity can be very different: organic, functional, material, social, spiritual. Organic motives are aimed at satisfying the natural needs of the body (in humans, at creating conditions that are most conducive to this). Such motives are associated with growth, self-preservation and development of the organism. This is the production of food, housing, clothing, etc. Functional motives are satisfied through all sorts of cultural activities, such as games and sports. Material motives encourage a person to engage in activities aimed at creating household items, various things and tools, directly in the form of products that serve natural needs. Social motives give rise to various types of activities aimed at taking a certain place in society, gaining recognition and respect from the people around them. Spiritual motives underlie those activities that are associated with human self-improvement. The type of activity is usually determined by its dominant motive (dominant because every human activity is polymotivated, that is, prompted by several different motives).

As goals activity is its product. It can be a real physical object created by a person, certain knowledge, skills and abilities acquired in the course of activity, a creative result (thought, idea, theory, work of art).

The purpose of the activity is not equivalent to its motive, although sometimes the motive and the purpose of the activity may coincide with each other. Different types of activities with the same goal (end result) can be stimulated and supported by different motives. On the contrary, a number of activities with different final goals may be based on the same motives. For example, reading a book for a person can act as a means of satisfying material (to demonstrate knowledge and get a high-paying job for this), social (to shine with knowledge in the circle of significant people, to achieve their location), spiritual (to expand your horizons, rise to a higher level of moral development ) needs. Such different types activities such as acquiring fashionable, prestigious things, reading literature, caring for appearance, developing the ability to behave, can ultimately pursue the same goal: to achieve by all means someone else's favor.

Subject activity is called what it directly deals with. So, for example, the subject of cognitive activity is all kinds of information, the subject learning activities - knowledge, abilities and skills, the subject of labor activity is the created material product.

Every activity has a certain structure... It usually identifies actions and operations as the main components of activities. Action they call a part of an activity that has a completely independent, human-conscious goal. For example, an action included in the structure of cognitive activity can be called receiving a book, reading it; activities that are part of labor activity can be considered familiarity with the task, the search for the necessary tools and materials, the development of the project, the technology of manufacturing the object, etc.; actions related to creativity are the formulation of an idea, its stage-by-stage implementation in the product of creative work.

Operation is called a way of performing an action. As there are different ways of performing an action, as many different operations can be distinguished. The nature of the operation depends on the conditions for performing the action, on the skills and abilities available to the person, on the available tools and means of performing the action. Different people, for example, remember information and write differently. This means that they carry out the action of writing a text or memorizing material using various operations. The operations preferred by a person characterize his individual style of activity.

As funds the implementation of activities for a person are those tools that he uses, performing certain actions and operations. The development of the means of activity leads to its improvement, as a result of which the activity becomes more productive and of high quality.

Motivation activity in the course of its development does not remain unchanged. So, for example, in labor or creative activity, over time, other motives may appear, and the former ones fade into the background. Sometimes an action that was previously included in an activity can stand out from it and acquire an independent status, turn into an activity with its own motive. In this case, we mark the birth of a new activity.

With age, as a person develops, the motivation of his activity changes. If a person changes as a person, then the motives of his activity are transformed. The progressive development of man is characterized by the movement of motives towards their ever greater spiritualization (from organic to material, from material to social, from social to creative, from creative to moral).

Every human activity has external and internal Components. Internal ones include anatomical and physiological structures and processes involved in the management of activity by the central nervous system, as well as psychological processes and conditions involved in the regulation of activity. The external components include a variety of movements associated with the practical implementation of activities.

The ratio of internal and external components of activity is not constant. With the development and transformation of activities, a systematic transition of external components to internal ones takes place. It is accompanied by their internalization and automation. When any difficulties arise in the activity, during its restoration associated with violations of internal components, the reverse transition occurs - exteriorization: the reduced, automated components of activity unfold, manifest themselves outside, the internal ones again become external, consciously controlled.

2 ... Types and development of human activity

A modern person has many different types of activity, the number of which roughly corresponds to the number of existing needs (taking into account the polymotivation of activity). In order to present and describe all these activities, it is necessary to list the most important needs for a given person. But such a task in practice seems to be difficult, since the number of different needs is large and they vary individually.

It is easier to define the basic parameters, in accordance with which it is possible to describe the system of human needs, and then, using them, to give characteristics of the activities inherent in a particular person. There are three such parameters: strength, quantity and quality of needs.

Under by force of need I mean the value of the corresponding need for a person, its relevance, frequency of occurrence and incentive potential. A stronger need is more significant, arises more often, dominates other needs and forces a person to behave in such a way that this particular need is satisfied in the first place.

number - this is the number of various needs that a person has and from time to time become relevant to him. There are people who have a relatively small number of needs, and they quite successfully cope with their systematic satisfaction, enjoying life. But there are those who have many different, sometimes conflicting, incompatible needs. The actualization of such needs requires the simultaneous inclusion of a person in various types of activity, and conflicts often arise between multidirectional needs and there is a lack of time required to satisfy them. Such people usually complain about the lack of time and feel dissatisfaction with life, in particular from the fact that they do not have time to do all the things on time.

Under originality of need I mean objects and objects with the help of which this or that need can be sufficiently fully satisfied in a given person, as well as the preferred way of satisfying this and other needs. For example, one person's cognitive need may be met by systematically watching entertainment only on television. For others, reading newspapers, books, listening to the radio and watching TV programs is not enough to fully satisfy a similar need. The third, in addition to the above, requires systematic communication with people - carriers of useful information of a cognitive nature, as well as inclusion in interesting independent creative-search work.

In accordance with the described parameters that characterize the system of human needs, it is possible to individually represent and describe a set of activities characteristic of an individual and for groups of people. In this case, for each of the named parameters and for the variety of their combinations, it is possible to compile and propose a classification of the types of human activity.

But there is another way: to generalize and highlight the main types of activities that are common to all people. They will correspond to the general needs that can be found in almost all people without exception, or rather, to the types of social human activity, in which each person inevitably includes in the process of his individual development. It - communication, play, teaching and work ... They should be considered as main activities people.

Communication - the first type of activity that arises in the process of individual development of a person, followed by play, study and work. All these activities are of a developmental nature, i.e. with the inclusion and active participation of the child in them, his intellectual and personal development occurs.

Communication is considered as a type of activity aimed at the exchange of information between communicating people. It also pursues the goal of establishing mutual understanding, good personal and business relationships, providing mutual assistance and educational and educational influence of people on each other. Communication can be direct and mediated, verbal and non-verbal. In direct communication, people are in direct contact with each other, know and see each other, directly exchange verbal or non-verbal information, without using any auxiliary means. With mediated communication, there are no direct contacts between people. They exchange information either through other people or through means of recording and reproducing information (books, newspapers, radio, television, telephone, fax, etc.).

A game is a type of activity that does not result in the production of any material or ideal product (with the exception of business and design games for adults and children). Games are often in the nature of entertainment, with the goal of getting a rest. Sometimes games serve as a means of symbolic relaxation of tensions that arose under the influence of a person's actual needs, which he is not able to weaken in any other way.

There are several types of games: individual and group, subject and plot, role-playing and games with rules. Individual games are a kind of activity when one person is engaged in a game, group games include several individuals. Object games are associated with the inclusion of any objects in a person's game activity. Story games unfold according to a specific scenario, reproducing it in basic detail. Role-playing games allow the behavior of a person, limited to a certain role that he takes on in the game. Finally, games with rules are governed by a certain system of rules of behavior for their participants. Often in life there are mixed types of games: subject-role-playing, plot-role, story games with rules, etc. The relationships that develop between people in the game, as a rule, are artificial in the sense that they are not taken seriously by others and are not grounds for conclusions about a person. Play behavior and play relationships have little effect on real human relationships, at least among adults.

Nevertheless, games are of great importance in people's lives. For children, games are predominantly of developmental value, and for adults they serve as a means of communication and relaxation. Some forms of play activities acquire the character of rituals, educational and training sessions, sports hobbies.

Teaching acts as a type of activity, the purpose of which is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities by a person. Teaching can be organized and carried out in special educational institutions. It can be disorganized and occur along the way, in other types of activity as their side, additional result. In adults, learning can take on the character of self-education. The peculiarities of educational activity consist in the fact that it directly serves as a means of psychological development of the individual.

A special place in the system of human activity is work... It was thanks to labor that man built a modern society, created objects of material and spiritual culture, transformed the conditions of his life in such a way that he discovered the prospects for further, practically unlimited development. The creation and improvement of tools of labor is primarily associated with labor. They, in turn, were a factor in increasing labor productivity, the development of science, industrial production, technical and artistic creativity.

When they talk about the development of human activity, they mean the following aspects of progressive transformations activities:

1. Phylogenetic development of the human activity system.

2. The inclusion of a person in various activities in the process of his individual development (ontogeny).

3. Changes occurring within certain types of activities as they develop.

4. Differentiation of activities, in the process of which from some activities others are born due to the isolation and transformation of individual actions into independent types of activities.

The phylogenetic transformation of the system of human activities essentially coincides with the history of the socio-economic development of mankind. Integration and differentiation of social structures was accompanied by the emergence of new types of activity in people. The same thing happened with the growth of the economy, the development of cooperation and the division of labor. People of new generations, joining the life of their contemporary society, assimilated and developed those types of activities that are characteristic of this society.

This process of integrating a growing individual into the existing system of activities is called socialization, and its phased implementation involves the gradual involvement of the child in communication, play, learning and work - those four main types of activity that were briefly described above. Moreover, each of the named types of activity is first assimilated in the most elementary form, and then becomes more complicated and improved. Communication between an adult and the people around him is just as little like the communication of an infant or a junior schoolchild, as the work activity of adults is like a child's play.

In the process of development of activity, its internal transformations... First, the activity is enriched with new subject content. New objects of material and spiritual culture become its object and, accordingly, a means of satisfying the needs associated with it. Secondly, the activity has new means of implementation, which accelerate its course and improve the results. So, for example, mastering a new language expands the possibilities for recording and reproducing information; familiarity with higher mathematics improves the ability to perform quantitative calculations. Thirdly, in the process of development of activity, the automation of individual operations and other components of activity occurs, they turn into skills and abilities. Finally, fourthly, as a result of the development of activity, new types of activity can emerge from it, separate and further develop independently. This mechanism of development of activity was described by A. N. Leontiev and was called the shift of motive to a goal.

The action of this mechanism is as follows. Some fragment of activity - action - at first may have a goal perceived by the individual, which in turn acts as a means of achieving another goal that serves to satisfy the need. This action and the corresponding goal are attractive to the individual insofar as they serve the process of satisfying the need, and only for this reason. In the future, the goal of this action can acquire an independent value, become a need or motive. In this case, they say that in the course of the development of the activity, the motive shifted to the goal and a new activity was born.

3 ... Activity and mental processes

Mental processes: perception, attention, imagination, memory, thinking, speech - act as the most important components of any human activity. In order to satisfy his needs, communicate, play, study and work, a person must perceive the world, pay attention to certain moments or components of activity, imagine what he needs to do, remember, think over, express judgments. Consequently, without the participation of mental processes, human activity is impossible, they act as its integral internal moments.

But it turns out that mental processes do not just participate in activity, they develop in it and themselves are special types of activity.

Perception in the process of practical activity, it acquires its most important human qualities. In activity, its main types are formed: the perception of depth, direction and speed of movement, time and space. Practical manipulation of the child with volumetric, nearby and distant objects reveals to him the fact that objects and space have certain dimensions: width, height, depth. As a result, a person learns to perceive and evaluate forms. Tracking movements of the hand and eye, accompanied by synergistic, coordinated contractions of certain muscle groups, contribute to the formation of the perception of movement and its direction. Changes in the speed of moving objects are automatically reproduced in the acceleration and deceleration of contractions of certain muscle groups, and this trains the senses to perceive speed.

Imagination is also associated with activities. First, a person is not able to imagine or imagine something that has never appeared in experience, was not an element, object, condition or moment of any activity. The texture of the imagination is a reflection, albeit not literally, of the experience of practical activity.

This applies even more to memory, and to its two main processes at the same time: to memorization and reproduction. Memorization is carried out in activity and itself is a special kind of mnemonic activity, which contains actions and operations aimed at preparing the material for better memorization. This is structuring, comprehending, associating material with known facts, the inclusion of various objects and movements in the memorization process, etc.

Recalling also involves performing certain actions aimed at remembering the material imprinted in memory in time and accurately. It is known that the conscious reproduction of an activity, during which a certain material was memorized, contributes to the fact that it is easier to remember.

Thinking in a number of its forms, it is identical to practical activity (the so-called "manual", or practical thinking). In more developed forms - figurative and logical - the activity moment appears in it in the form of internal, mental actions and operations. Speech is also a special kind of activity, so that the phrase "speech activity" is often used to describe it. Since the internal mental processes in a person reveal the same structure as external actions, there is every reason to talk not only about external, but also internal action.

It has been experimentally proven that internal, i.e. mental, processes called higher mental functions, in origin and structure are activities. Theories have been developed and proven in practice, asserting that mental processes can be formed through external activity organized according to special rules. External activity, as a result of its special transformations aimed at reducing and automating individual links, their transformation into skills, gradually turns into internal, proper mental (interiorization). Such internalized mental processes are arbitrary and speech-mediated cognitive processes: perception, attention, imagination, memory and thinking.

On the other hand, none of these mental processes proceeds as purely internal and necessarily includes any external, usually motor links. Visual perception, for example, is inextricably linked with eye movements, touch - with hand movements, attention - with muscle contractions, which determine his concentration, switchability and absent-mindedness. When a person solves problems, his articulatory apparatus almost always works; speech activity without movements of the larynx and facial muscles is impossible. Consequently, any activity is a combination of internal and external, mental and behavioral actions and operations.

4 ... Skills, skills and habits

Automated, consciously, semi-consciously and unconsciously controlled components of activity are named accordingly skills, habits and habits.

Skills - these are elements of activity that allow you to do something with high quality, for example, accurately and correctly perform any action, operation, series of actions or operations. Skills usually include automatically performed parts called skills, but in general they are consciously controlled parts of an activity, at least in the main intermediate points and the final goal.

Skills - These are fully automated, instinct-like components of skills, implemented at the level of unconscious control. If by action we mean a part of an activity that has a clearly defined conscious goal, then an automated component of an action can also be called a skill.

With the automation of actions and operations, their transformation into skills, a number of transformations take place in the structure of activity. First, automated actions and operations merge into a single, holistically flowing act called skill (for example, a complex system of movements of a person writing a text, performing a sports exercise, performing a surgical operation, making a delicate detail of an object, giving a lecture, etc.) ... At the same time, unnecessary, unnecessary movements disappear, and the number of erroneous ones drops sharply.

Secondly, control over an action or operation during their automation is shifted from the process to the final result, and external, sensory control is replaced by internal, proprioceptive. The speed of performing an action and an operation increases dramatically, reaching some optimum or maximum. All this usually happens as a result of exercise and training.

The development and improvement of activities can be understood, therefore, as the transition of the components of individual skills, actions and operations to the skill level. By the way, operations can also act as a skill. Then they are part of a more complex skill. Due to the automation of its individual components, human activity, unloading from regulation with respect to elementary acts, can be directed to solving more complex problems.

The physiological basis for the automation of the components of activity, initially represented in its structure in the form of actions and operations and then turning into skills, is, as N.A. Bernstein showed, the transition of the management of activity or its individual components to the subconscious level of regulation and bringing them to automatism.

Since skills are part of the structure of actions and various activities in large numbers, they usually interact with each other to form complex skill systems. The nature of their interaction can be different: from concordance to opposition, from complete merger to mutually negative inhibitory influence - interference. Coordination of skills occurs when: a) the system of movements included in one skill corresponds to the system of movements included in another skill; b) when the implementation of one skill creates favorable conditions for the performance of the second (one of the skills serves as a means of better mastering the other); c) when the end of one skill is the actual beginning of another, and vice versa. Interference occurs when one of the following contradictions appears in the interaction of skills: a) the system of movements included in one skill contradicts, does not agree with the system of movements that make up the structure of another skill; b) when, in the transition from one skill to another, you actually have to retrain, break the structure of the old skill; c) when the system of movements included in one skill is partially contained in another, already brought to automatism skill (in this case, when performing a new skill, movements characteristic of a previously learned skill automatically arise, which leads to a distortion of the movements necessary for the newly acquired skill ); d) when the beginnings and ends of the successively performed skills do not match each other. With full automation of skills, the phenomenon of interference is minimized or completely disappears.

Transferring skills is essential for understanding the skill formation process. the spread and use of skills formed as a result of performing some actions and activities to others. In order for such a transfer to be carried out normally, it is necessary that the skill become generalized, universal, consistent with other skills, actions and activities, brought to automatism.

Skills, in contrast to skills, are formed as a result of the coordination of skills, their integration into systems using actions that are under conscious control. Through the regulation of such actions, the optimal control of skills is carried out. It consists in ensuring the error-free and flexible execution of the action, i.e. obtaining as a result of a reliable result of the action. The action itself in the skill structure is controlled by its target. For example, elementary school students, when teaching writing, perform a number of actions associated with writing individual elements of letters. In this case, the skills of holding a pencil in hand and performing elementary hand movements are performed, as a rule, automatically. The key to skill management is to ensure that every action is infallible and flexible enough. This means the practical exclusion of low quality work, variability and the ability to adapt the skills system to changing conditions of activity from time to time, while maintaining positive results of work. For example, the ability to do something with your own hands means that a person with this skill will always work well and be able to maintain a high quality of work in any conditions. Ability to teach means that the teacher is able to teach any normal student what he knows and can do.

One of the main qualities related to skills is that a person is able to change the structure of skills - skills, operations and actions that make up the skills, the sequence of their implementation, while keeping the final result unchanged. A skillful person, for example, can replace one material with another in the manufacture of a product, make or use the tools at hand, other improvised means, in a word, will find a way out in almost any situation.

Skills, in contrast to skills, always rely on active intellectual activity and necessarily include thinking processes. Conscious intellectual control is the main thing that distinguishes skills from skills. The activation of intellectual activity in skills occurs precisely at those moments when the conditions of activity change, non-standard situations arise that require prompt adoption of reasonable decisions. The management of skills at the level of the Central nervous system is carried out by higher anatomical and physiological authorities than the management of skills, i.e. at the level of the cerebral cortex.

Skills and skills are divided into several types: motor, cognitive, theoretical and practical... Motor movements include a variety of movements, complex and simple, that make up the external, motor aspects of activity. There are special types of activities, such as sports, which are entirely built on the basis of motor skills and abilities. Cognitive skills include abilities related to searching, perceiving, memorizing and processing information. They correlate with the main mental processes and involve the formation of knowledge. Theoretical skills and abilities are associated with abstract intelligence. They are expressed in a person's ability to analyze, generalize material, build hypotheses, theories, and translate information from one sign system to another. Such skills and abilities are most of all manifested in creative work associated with obtaining an ideal product of thought.

Exercises are of great importance in the formation of all types of skills. Thanks to them, skills are being automated, skills are improved, and activities in general. Exercise is necessary both at the stage of developing skills and abilities, and in the process of their preservation. Without constant, systematic exercises, skills and abilities are usually lost, lose their qualities.

Another element of activity is habit... It differs from skill and skill in that it is a so-called unproductive element of activity. If skills and abilities are associated with solving a problem, involve obtaining a product and are flexible enough (in the structure of complex skills), then habits are an inflexible (often unreasonable) part of an activity that a person performs mechanically and does not have a conscious goal, or clearly expressed productive completion. Unlike a simple skill, a habit can be consciously controlled to a certain extent. But it differs from skill in that it is not always reasonable and useful (bad habits). Habits as elements of activity are the least flexible parts of it.

List of used literature

1. Belous V.V. Temperament and activity. Tutorial... - Pyatigorsk, 1990.

2. Leontiev A.N. Activity. Consciousness. Personality. - M., 1982.

3. Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology: In 2 volumes - T. I. - M., 1989.

Activity structure

The final result of the activity can be achieved directly, directly in one act of activity, or through intermediate results that bring the subject closer to the final goal (subject of activity). In the latter case, individual links or intermediate actions are distinguished in activity as an integral activity that has its own structure or structure, which ensure the achievement of intermediate results (Fig. 5.2).

Figure: 5.2.

Naturally, there is a basis and logic for the selection of intermediate results and the corresponding actions, which is determined by the conditions and technology for achieving the final result (method of activity), and there is an algorithm for the transition from action to action.

Action is understood as activity, the subject of which is an intermediate result as a conscious goal. In turn, each action can also be broken down into a number of its links, which are called "private actions" or "operations" (S. L. Rubinstein and P. Ya. Halperin). This, as a rule, must be done when it comes to teaching a new activity or a new action, in which it is necessary for the student to highlight the smallest links and give guidelines for their correct execution. When you select operations, the structure of the activity on the diagram looks like the one shown in Fig. 5.3.

Figure: 5.3.

etc. - intermediate result or goal; d 1.1 - action 1.1 or operation 1.1 in action 1, etc.

Operations, or private actions, can be further subdivided - down to individual movements, ensuring their directional connection with each other (execution algorithm).

The set of actions and operations, the means used and the algorithm for the transition from one link to another constitute the structure and technology of activity.

The choice of intermediate results or goals of the first order (p.p. 1; p.p. 2; p.p. 3; ..., p.p. N) and subsequent orders related to operations (p.p. 1.1; p.p. 1.2; p.p. 2.1; p.p. 2.2, etc.) are determined by the requirements of the final result, and for the second order - by the requirements of intermediate results of the first order and the selected technologies for achieving the final and intermediate results (methods and means of achieving). Activity and action are not rigidly linked. The action can be included in different activities, sometimes simultaneously.

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What is the structure of activity. Orsk Industrial Institute. Principles of the Psychological Theory of Activity