Activity theory
Activity theory (AT; ) is an umbrella term for a line of eclectic social sciences theories and research with its roots in the Soviet psychological activity theory pioneered by Lev Vygotsky , Alexei Leont'ev and Sergei Rubinstein. These scholars sought to understand human activities as systemic and socially situated phenomena and to go beyond paradigms of reflexology (the teaching of Vladimir Bekhterev and his followers) and classical conditioning (the teaching of Ivan Pavlov and his school), psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It became one of the major psychological approaches in the former USSR, being widely used in both theoretical and applied psychology, and in education, professional training, ergonomics, social psychology and work psychology.
Teleological behaviorism
The founder of teleological behaviorism is Howard Rachlin, an Emeritus Research Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Originally focusing his work on operant behavior, he eventually became interested in the concepts of free-will as they applied to Behavioral Economics and turned his interest to the related field of teleological behaviorism from there. A large influence for Rachlin’s work was Aristotle’s early philosophies on the mind, specifically how “Artistotle’s classification of movements in terms of final rather than efficient causes corresponds to B.F. Skinner’s conception of an operant as a class of movements with a common end”. This concept that Rachlin is referring to is Artistotle’s concept of Telos, “the final cause” that drives us all forward towards a common end. Rachlin also found heavy inspiration in the writings and work of Tolman and Bandura after their work in Behaviorism. An example of Artistotle’s concept of Telos could come from the concept of drinking water. While most behaviorists would approach drinking water as a direct reaction to being thirsty, Rachlin would also consider the long-term effects and consider that the person is drinking water so that they do not eventually die of thirst. This far-sighted view offers a different viewpoint into the behaviors of human beings that may not be explained as clearly by operant conditioning, a concept of Behavioral Psychology that mostly focuses upon the short-term reactions that someone has learned.