Who pioneered activity theory?
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.
Activity theory
Activity theory also influenced the development of organizational-activity game as developed by Georgy Shchedrovitsky.
Intentionality
The concept of intentionality was reintroduced in 19th-century contemporary philosophy by Franz Brentano (a German philosopher and psychologist who is generally regarded as the founder of act psychology, also called intentionalism) in his work "Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint" (1874). Brentano described intentionality as a characteristic of all acts of consciousness that are thus "psychical" or "mental" phenomena, by which they may be set apart from "physical" or "natural" phenomena.
Brentano coined the expression "intentional inexistence" to indicate the peculiar ontological status of the contents of mental phenomena. According to some interpreters the "in-" of "in-existence" is to be read as locative, i.e. as indicating that "an intended object ... exists in or has "in-existence", existing not externally but in the psychological state" (Jacquette 2004, p. 102), while others are more cautious, stating: "It is not clear whether in 1874 this ... was intended to carry any ontological commitment" (Chrudzimski and Smith 2004, p. 205).
Activity theory
Because of these shortcomings, it was necessary to move outside cognitive science-based HCI to find or develop the necessary theoretical platform. European psychology had taken different paths than had American with much inspiration from dialectical materialism (Hydén 1981, Engeström, 1987). Philosophers such as Heidegger and Wittgenstein came to play an important role, primarily through discussions of the limitations of AI (Winograd & Flores 1986, Dreyfus & Dreyfus 1986). Suchman (1987) with a similar focus introduced ethnomethodology into the discussions, and Ehn (1988) based his treatise of design of computer artifacts on Marx, Heidegger and Wittgenstein.
The development of the activity theoretical angle was primarily carried out by Bødker (1991, 1996) and by Kuutti (Bannon & Kuutti, 1993, Kuutti, 1991, 1996), both with strong inspiration from Scandinavian activity theory groups in psychology. Bannon (1990, 1991) and Grudin (1990a and b) made significant contributions to the furthering of the approach by making it available to the HCI audience. The work of Kaptelinin (1996) has been important to connect to the earlier development of activity theory in Russia. Nardi produced the, hitherto, most applicable collection of activity theoretical HCI literature (Nardi, 1996).
Tom Ostrom
Thomas Marshall Ostrom (March 1, 1936 – May 16, 1994) was a psychologist who helped further the study of social psychology. Prior to Ostrom, the field explored and identified the cognitive foundations of social activity. Ostrom pushed the field to studying the social foundations of cognitive activity.
George Green (mathematician)
George Green (14 July 1793 – 31 May 1841) was a British mathematical physicist who wrote "An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism" (Green, 1828). The essay introduced several important concepts, among them a theorem similar to the modern Green's theorem, the idea of potential functions as currently used in physics, and the concept of what are now called Green's functions. Green was the first person to create a mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism and his theory formed the foundation for the work of other scientists such as James Clerk Maxwell, William Thomson, and others. His work on potential theory ran parallel to that of Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Behavioral economics
Behavioral game theory, invented by Colin Camerer, analyzes interactive strategic decisions and behavior using the methods of game theory, experimental economics, and experimental psychology. Experiments include testing deviations from typical simplifications of economic theory such as the independence axiom and neglect of altruism, fairness, and framing effects. On the positive side, the method has been applied to interactive learning and social preferences. As a research program, the subject is a development of the last three decades.
John Neulinger
John Neulinger (April 26, 1924 - June 20, 1991) was a noted German-American psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology at City College of New York. Neulinger is best known for contributing a social psychological theory of leisure to the field of leisure studies. Neulinger's theory of leisure is defined by a psychological state of mind that requires two criteria for leisure: perceived freedom and intrinsic motivation. In Neulinger's theory, individuals can be said to be in a state of leisure if they simply perceive that they have the freedom to choose activities and are motivated by an activity for its own sake, not just for its consequences. Neulinger first popularized his ideas in the 1974 book, "The Psychology of Leisure".
Associationism
The idea is first recorded in Plato and Aristotle, especially with regard to the succession of memories. Members of the principally British ""Associationist School"", including John Locke, David Hume, David Hartley, Joseph Priestley, James Mill, John Stuart Mill, Alexander Bain, and Ivan Pavlov, asserted that the principle applied to all or most mental processes. Particularly, Locke's view that the mind and body are two aspects of the same unified phenomenon can be traced back to Aristotle's ideas on the subject. Later members of the school developed very specific principles elaborating how associations worked and even a physiological mechanism bearing no resemblance to modern neurophysiology. For a fuller explanation of the intellectual history of associationism and the "Associationist School", see "Association of Ideas".
Cultural-historical activity theory
In his 1987 ""Learning by expanding"", Engeström offers a very detailed account of the diverse sources, philosophical and psychological, that inform activity theory. In subsequent years, however, a simplified picture has emerged from his and other researchers' work, namely the idea that (to date) there are three principal 'stages' or 'generations' of activity theory, or "cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT). Whilst the first generation built on Vygotsky's notion of mediated action, from the individual's perspective, and the second generation built on Leont'ev's notion of activity system, with emphasis on the collective, the third generation, which appeared in the mid-nineties, builds on the idea of multiple interacting activity systems focused on a partially shared object, and boundary-crossings between them.
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.
Action theory (sociology)
Parsons' action theory is characterized by a system-theoretical approach, which integrated a meta-structural analysis with a voluntary theory. Parsons' first major work, "The Structure of Social Action" (1937) discussed the methodological and meta-theoretical premises for the foundation of a theory of social action. It argued that an action theory must be based on a voluntaristic foundation—claiming neither a sheer positivistic-utilitarian approach nor a sheer "idealistic" approach would satisfy the necessary prerequisites, and proposing an alternative, systemic general theory.
Thought and Action
Thought and Action is a 1959 book about action theory by the philosopher Stuart Hampshire. The book has received praise from commentators, and is considered Hampshire's major work.
Practice theory
Practice theory is strongly associated with the French theorist and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. His concept of habitus represents an important formulation of the principles of practice theory. Bourdieu developed the notion of 'habitus' to capture 'the permanent internalisation of the social order in the human body'. His book, "Outline of a Theory of Practice", which is based on his work in Algeria during the Algerian War of Independence is an example of Bourdieu's formulation of practice theory applied to empirical data gathered through ethnography. Several works of his are considered classics, not only in sociology, but also in anthropology, education, international relations and cultural studies. "Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (La Distinction)" was named as one of the 20th century's ten most important works of sociology by the International Sociological Association.
Action theory (sociology)
Parsons established action theory to integrate the study of social order with the structural and voluntaristic aspects of macro and micro factors. In other words, he was trying to maintain the scientific rigour of positivism, while acknowledging the necessity of the "subjective dimension" of human action incorporated in hermeneutic types of sociological theorizing. Parsons sees motives as part of our actions. Therefore, he thought that social science must consider ends, purposes and ideals when looking at actions. Parsons placed his discussion within a higher epistemological and explanatory context of systems theory and cybernetics.
Kurt Lewin
Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term "action research" in about 1944, and it appears in his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems". In that paper, he described action research as "a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-finding about the result of the action" (this is sometimes referred to as the "Lewinian spiral").
Schwinger's quantum action principle
The Schwinger's quantum action principle is a variational approach to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. This theory was introduced by Julian Schwinger. In this approach, the quantum action is an operator. Although it is superficially different from the path integral formulation where the action is a classical function, the modern formulation of
the two formalisms are identical.
Trait activation theory
Trait activation theory is a personality theory of work performance based on the concept of trait activation, and is derived from an integration of trait theory, situationism, and personality-job fit theory. 
"Trait theory" is a psychological approach that includes studying personality traits as relatively stable individual differences which describe general predispositions or predictable common patterns of thinking and experiencing emotions that influence behavior. In fact, personality traits have been associated with important life outcomes (see Personality and life outcomes). The most well-known description or categorization of personality traits is called the "Big Five personality traits" which includes five broad personality dimensions: conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and neuroticism (or, in its inverse form, emotional stability).
In personality psychology there has been a long-standing person-situation debate wherein trait theorists suggested behavior could be predicted by analyzing consistent personalities across situations, but "situationists" disagreed that personalities were as consistent as trait theorists suggested. "Situationists" argued that the external situation – not general traits – was what influenced behavior. Today, most personality psychologists adhere to an interactionist perspective, where both person and situation contribute to human behavior; as a result, the primary debate no longer exists.
Bayesian probability
Following the work on expected utility theory of Ramsey and von Neumann, decision-theorists have accounted for rational behavior using a probability distribution for the agent. Johann Pfanzagl completed the "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by providing an axiomatization of subjective probability and utility, a task left uncompleted by von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern: their original theory supposed that all the agents had the same probability distribution, as a convenience. Pfanzagl's axiomatization was endorsed by Oskar Morgenstern: "Von Neumann and I have anticipated...[the question whether probabilities] might, perhaps more typically, be subjective and have stated specifically that in the latter case axioms could be found from which could derive the desired numerical utility together with a number for the probabilities (cf. p. 19 of The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior). We did not carry this out; it was demonstrated by Pfanzagl ... with all the necessary rigor".
Theory of reasoned action
The Theory of Reasoned Action (ToRA or TRA) aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and behaviors within human action. It is mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions. An individual's decision to engage in a particular behavior is based on the outcomes the individual expects will come as a result of performing the behavior. Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967, the theory derived from previous research in social psychology, persuasion models, and attitude theories. Fishbein's theories suggested a relationship between attitude and behaviors (the A-B relationship). However, critics estimated that attitude theories were not proving to be good indicators of human behavior. The ToRA was later revised and expanded by the two theorists in the following decades to overcome any discrepancies in the A-B relationship with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Reasoned Action Approach (RAA). The theory is also used in communication discourse as a theory of understanding.
Activity theory
The origins of activity theory can be traced to several sources, which have subsequently given rise to various complementary and intertwined strands of development. This account will focus on three of the most important of these strands. The first is associated with the Moscow Institute of Psychology and in particular the "troika" of young Russian researchers, Vygotsky, Leont'ev and Luria. Vygotsky founded cultural-historical psychology, a field that became the basis for modern AT; Leont'ev, one of the principal founders of activity theory, both developed and reacted against Vygotsky's work. Leont'ev's formulation of general activity theory is currently the most influential in post-Soviet developments in AT, which have largely been in social-scientific, organizational, and writing-studies rather than psychological research.
Activity theory
An activity is modelled as a three-level hierarchy. Kuutti schematises processes in activity theory as a three-level system.
Action theory (philosophy)
Basic action theory typically describes action as behavior caused by an "agent" in a particular "situation". The agent's "desires" and "beliefs" (e.g. my wanting a glass of water and believing the clear liquid in the cup in front of me is water) lead to bodily behavior (e.g. reaching over for the glass). In the simple theory (see Donald Davidson), the desire and belief jointly cause the action. Michael Bratman has raised problems for such a view and argued that we should take the concept of intention as basic and not analyzable into beliefs and desires.
Juan Antonio Pérez López
Juan Antonio Pérez López (1934–1996) was a Spanish business theorist. He was professor of "Organizational Behavior" at the IESE Business School (Spain), where he became Dean (1978–1984). He was also a visiting professor at PAD Business School of the Universidad de Piura (Peru) and IAE Business School of the Austral University (Argentina). His research and publications focus on Action Theory and its implications for Organizational Behavior. They collect and integrate economic, sociological, and ethical aspects.
Theory of planned behavior
The theory has since been improved and renamed the reasoned action approach by Azjen and his colleague Martin Fishbein.
Action regulation theory
Action regulation theory (or Activity regulation theory) was jointly developed by Winfried Hacker. in the 1980s. The Theory serves as a basis for modelling working conditions. As a process model it has its roots in the Soviet psychological activity theory on the one side and on the other side it is based on the T.O.T.E. Model (Test-Operation-Test-Exit) from Miller, Galanter and Pribram.
The pursued approach of the Action-Regulation-Theory is the integration of cognitive, behaviourism and social science orientated conceptions. This integration then is used to make explanatory and modelling statements about work conditions. Hacker talks in this context about the holistic work activity, which is an essential criteria for personality development. Through the above described should the partialization of work activity and the Taylorism be overcome. As a cybernetic approach the ground idea of an action/ activity is the regulation.
Between the visible work activity and the non visible cognitive processes is a gap, which the Action-Regulation-Theory promise to close. Through a hierarchical-sequential structured model, action steps are supposed to be accurately captured and analysed.
August Cieszkowski
Cieszkowski exerted a significant (and reciprocated) influence on Polish Romantic poet, playwright and Gothic novelist Zygmunt Krasinski, whom he met in Milan in 1839 and became close friends with ( published (in Polish) two volumes of their correspondence in 1912). He also influenced the poet Cyprian Norwid, philosopher and philosopher, art historian and proto-psychologist . He is arguably the creator of the "philosophy of action." His most important philosophical legacy is probably his influence on the young Karl Marx, via German communist and Young Hegelian Moses Hess. The latter adopted Cieszkowski's idea of that the dualism between consciousness and action would collapse in the latter part of the history of humanity, though he believed the synthesis had occurred on various occasions throughout history and located the transition to the 'third age' at the Reformation instead of the philosophy of Hegel. Marx, who was a friend of and collaborator with Hess from a few years from 1841 onwards, owes various aspects of his thought on alienation and the nature of and transition to communist society to Cieszkowski, including that the dualism between consciousness and action would collapse in revolutionary "praxis". (Cieszkowski was one of the earliest philosophers to use the term "praxis" as meaning "action oriented towards changing society" in his "Prolegomena zur Historiosophie").
Alvin Goldman
Goldman's early book, "A Theory of Human Action" (a revised version of his Ph.D. thesis), presents a systematic way of classifying and relating the many actions we perform at any time. Its influence was broad and can be found in, among other writings, John Rawls' book "A Theory of Justice". Goldman's early work in action theory soon gave way to work in other branches of philosophy, most influentially epistemology.
Activity theory
The Scandinavian AT school of thought seeks to integrate and develop concepts from Vygotsky's Cultural-historical psychology and Leont'ev's activity theory with Western intellectual developments such as Cognitive Science, American Pragmatism, Constructivism, and Actor-Network Theory. It is known as Scandinavian activity theory. Work in the systems-structural theory of activity is also being carried on by researchers in the US and UK.
Activity theory
Activity theory is most often used to describe actions in a socio-technical system through six related elements (Bryant et al. as defined by Leonti'ev 1981 and redefined in Engeström 1987) of a conceptual system expanded by more nuanced theories:
Cultural-historical activity theory
In more recent years the implications of activity theory in organizational development have been promoted by the work Yrjö Engeström's team at the Centre for Activity Theory and Developmental Work Research (CATDWR) at the University of Helsinki, and Mike Cole at the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC) at the University of California San Diego campus.
Action theory (philosophy)
Action theory (or theory of action) is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought involves epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, jurisprudence, and philosophy of mind, and has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics" (Third Book). With the advent of psychology and later neuroscience, many theories of action are now subject to empirical testing.
Action potential
The flow of currents within an axon can be described quantitatively by cable theory and its elaborations, such as the compartmental model. Cable theory was developed in 1855 by Lord Kelvin to model the transatlantic telegraph cable and was shown to be relevant to neurons by Hodgkin and Rushton in 1946. In simple cable theory, the neuron is treated as an electrically passive, perfectly cylindrical transmission cable, which can be described by a partial differential equation
John Neulinger
In the late 1960s, Neulinger and Miranda Breit were one of the first leisure researchers to use attitudinal data instead of participation data to define activity clusters. They published their attitudinal analysis as "Attitude Dimensions of Leisure" in the "Journal of Leisure Research".
Networked advocacy
Mancur Olson might be called the father of modern collective action theory. His 1965 book, The Logic of Collective Action, takes an economics-based approach to studying when groups do and do not collaborate to achieve common goals. Starting with the assumption of individual rationality, Olson posits that rational individuals will always act in their own self-interest, rather than a collective or group good, unless the group is small or they are coerced in some way. In his model, the costs of participation create an incentive for individuals to "free ride," or rely on others to provide the collective good. This tendency is especially acute in the context of large groups, where individual contributions are difficult to perceive by other group members. Olson suggests that "selective incentives," positive or negative inducements that affect only members of a particular group, along with coercive measures can play a part in overcoming the rational disinclination toward collective action.
Social complexity
The American sociologist Talcott Parsons carried on the work of the early founders mentioned above in his early (1937) work on action theory. By 1951, Parsons places these earlier ideas firmly into the realm of formal systems theory in "The Social System". For the next several decades, this synergy between general systems thinking and the further development of social system theories is carried forward by Parson's student, Robert K. Merton, and a long line of others, in discussions of theories of the middle-range and social structure and agency. During part of this same period, from the late 1970s through the early 1990s, discussion ensues in any number of other research areas about the properties of systems in which strong correlation of sub-parts leads to observed behaviors variously described as autopoetic, self-organizing, dynamical, turbulent, and chaotic. All of these are forms of system behavior arising from mathematical complexity. By the early 1990s, the work of social theorists such as Niklas Luhmann began reflecting these themes of complex behavior.
Organizational theory
There was a wave of scholarly attention to organizational theory in the 1950s, which from some viewpoints held the field to still be in its infancy. A 1959 symposium held by the Foundation for Research on Human Behavior in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
was published as "Modern Organization Theory". Among a group of eminent organizational theorists active in during this decade were E. Wight Bakke, Chris Argyris, James G. March, Rensis Likert, Jacob Marschak, Anatol Rapoport, and William Foote Whyte.
Logical behaviorism
Logical behaviorism was first stated by the Vienna Circle, especially Rudolf Carnap. Other philosophers with sympathies for behaviorism included C. G. Hempel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and W. V. O. Quine (1960). A more moderate form of analytical behaviorism was put forward by the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle in his book "The Concept of Mind" (1949).
Activity theory
The concepts of motives, goals and conditions discussed above also contribute to the modelling of soft factors. One principle of activity theory is that many activities have multiple motivation ('polymotivation'). For instance, a programmer in writing a program may address goals aligned towards multiple motives such as increasing his or her annual bonus, obtaining relevant career experience and contributing to organisational objectives.
Debye–Hückel theory
Activity coefficients are themselves functions of concentration as the amount of inter-ionic interaction increases as the concentration of the electrolyte increases. Debye and Hückel developed a theory with which single ion activity coefficients could be calculated. By calculating the mean activity coefficients from them the theory could be tested against experimental data. It was found to give excellent agreement for "dilute" solutions.
Philosophy in the Soviet Union
Lev Vygotsky's (1896–1934) studies in developmental psychology, which opposed themselves to Ivan Pavlov's works, would be expanded in the activity theory developed by Alexei Nikolaevich Leont'ev, Pyotr Zinchenko (a member of Kharkov School of Psychology), and Alexander Luria, a neuropsychologist who developed the first lie detector.
Computational theory of mind
In philosophy, the computational theory of mind (CTM) refers to a family of views that hold that the human mind is an information processing system and that cognition and consciousness together are a form of computation. Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts (1943) were the first to suggest that neural activity is computational. They argued that neural computations explain cognition. The theory was proposed in its modern form by Hilary Putnam in 1967, and developed by his PhD student, philosopher and cognitive scientist Jerry Fodor in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Despite being vigorously disputed in analytic philosophy in the 1990s due to work by Putnam himself, John Searle, and others, the view is common in modern cognitive psychology and is presumed by many theorists of evolutionary psychology. In the 2000s and 2010s the view has resurfaced in analytic philosophy (Scheutz 2003, Edelman 2008).
Cultural-historical activity theory
"Activity systems analysis" is a CHAT-based method, discussed in / and in Cole & Engeström, 1993, for understanding human activity in real-world situations with data collection, analysis, and presentation methods that address the complexities of human activity in natural settings aimed to advance both theory and practice. It is based on Vygotsky's concept of mediated action and captures human activity in a triangle model that includes the subject, tool, object, rule, community, and division of labor. Subjects are participants in an activity, motivated toward a purpose or attainment of the object. The object can be the goal of an activity, the subject's motives for participating in an activity, and the material products that subjects gain through an activity. Tools are socially shared cognitive and/or material resources that subjects can use to attain the object. Informal or formal rules regulate the subject's participation while engaging in an activity. The community is the group or organization to which subjects belong. The division of labor is the shared participation responsibilities in the activity determined by the community. Finally, the outcome is the consequences that the subject faces because of his/her actions driven by the object. These outcomes can encourage or hinder the subject's participation in future activities. In Part 2 of her video ""Using Activity Theory to understand human behaviour"", shows how activity theory is applied to the problem of behavior change and HIV and AIDs (in South Africa). The video focuses on sexual activity as the activity of the system, and illustrates how an "Activity System Analysis", through a historical and current account of the activity, provides a way of understanding lack of behavior change in response to HIV and AIDS. In her eponymous book ""Activity Systems Analysis Methods."", describes seven ASA case studies which fall ""into four distinct work clusters. These clusters include works that help (a) understand developmental work research (DWR), (b) describe real-world learning situations, (c) design human computer interaction systems, and (d) plan solutions to complicated work-based problems"". Other uses of ASA: Summarizing organizational change; Identifying guidelines for designing Constructivist Learning Environments; Identifying contradictions and tensions that shape developments in educational settings; Demonstrating historical developments in organizational learning., and Evaluating K–12 school and university partnership relations.
Default mode network
Hans Berger, the inventor of the electroencephalogram, was the first to propose the idea that the brain is constantly busy. In a series of papers published in 1929 he showed that the electrical oscillations detected by his device do not cease even when the subject is at rest. However, his ideas were not taken seriously, and a general perception formed among neurologists that only when a focused activity is performed does the brain (or a part of the brain) become active. In the 1950s, to the surprise of the researchers, Louis Sokoloff and his colleagues noticed metabolism in the brain stayed the same when a person went from a resting state to performing effortful math problems suggesting active metabolism in the brain must also be happening during rest. In the 1970s, Ingvar and colleagues observed blood flow in the front part of the brain became the highest when a person is at rest. Around the same time, intrinsic oscillatory behavior in vertebrate neurons was observed in cerebellar Purkinje cells, inferior olivary nucleus and thalamus.
Activity coefficient
The concept of activity coefficient is closely linked to that of activity in chemistry.
Instructional theory
Originating in the United States in the late 1970s, "instructional theory" is influenced by three basic theories in educational thought: behaviorism, the theory that helps us understand how people conform to predetermined standards; cognitivism, the theory that learning occurs through mental associations; and constructivism, the theory explores the value of human activity as a critical function of gaining knowledge. Instructional theory is heavily influenced by the 1956 work of Benjamin Bloom, a University of Chicago professor, and the results of his Taxonomy of Education Objectives—one of the first modern codifications of the learning process. One of the first instructional theorists was Robert M. Gagne, who in 1965 published "Conditions of Learning" for the Florida State University's Department of Educational Research.
Activity theory
Activity theory therefore includes the notion that an activity is carried out within a social context, or specifically in a community. The way in which the activity fits into the context is thus established by two resulting concepts:
Neurophilosophy
Computational neuroscience began in the 1930s and 1940s with two groups of researchers. The first group consisted of Alan Turing, Alonzo Church and John von Neumann, who were working to develop computing machines and the mathematical underpinnings of computer science. This work culminated in the theoretical development of so-called Turing machines and the Church–Turing thesis, which formalized the mathematics underlying computability theory. The second group consisted of Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts who were working to develop the first artificial neural networks. McCulloch and Pitts were the first to hypothesize that neurons could be used to implement a logical calculus that could explain cognition. They used their toy neurons to develop logic gates that could make computations. However these developments failed to take hold in the psychological sciences and neuroscience until the mid-1950s and 1960s.
Behaviorism had dominated the psychology until the 1950s when new developments in a variety of fields overturned behaviorist theory in favor of a cognitive theory. From the beginning of the cognitive revolution, computational theory played a major role in theoretical developments. Minsky and McCarthy's work in artificial intelligence, Newell and Simon's computer simulations, and Noam Chomsky's importation of information theory into linguistics were all heavily reliant on computational assumptions. By the early 1960s, Hilary Putnam was arguing in favor of machine functionalism in which the brain instantiated Turing machines. By this point computational theories were firmly fixed in psychology and neuroscience.
By the mid-1980s, a group of researchers began using multilayer feed-forward analog neural networks that could be trained to perform a variety of tasks. The work by researchers like Sejnowski, Rosenberg, Rumelhart, and McClelland were labeled as connectionism, and the discipline has continued since then. The connectionist mindset was embraced by Paul and Patricia Churchland who then developed their "state space semantics" using concepts from connectionist theory. Connectionism was also condemned by researchers such as Fodor, Pylyshyn, and Pinker. The tension between the connectionists and the classicists is still being debated today.
Activity theory (aging)
Though in recent years the acceptance activity theory has diminished, it is still used as a standard to compare observed activity and life satisfaction patterns.
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interaction was conceived by George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley. Mead argued that people's selves are social products, but that these selves are also purposive and creative, and believed that the true test of any theory was that it was "useful in solving complex social problems". Mead's influence was said to be so powerful that sociologists regard him as the one "true founder" of the symbolic interactionism tradition. Although Mead taught in a philosophy department, he is best known by sociologists as the teacher who trained a generation of the best minds in their field. Strangely, he never set forth his wide-ranging ideas in a book or systematic treatise. After his death in 1931, his students pulled together class notes and conversations with their mentor and published "Mind, Self and Society" in his name. It is a common misconception that John Dewey was the leader of this sociological theory; according to "The Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism," Mead was undoubtedly the individual who "transformed the inner structure of the theory, moving it to a higher level of theoretical complexity". "Mind, Self and Society" is the book published by Mead's students based on his lectures and teaching, and the title of the book highlights the core concept of social interactionism. "Mind" refers to an individual's ability to use symbols to create meanings for the world around the individual – individuals use language and thought to accomplish this goal. "Self" refers to an individual's ability to reflect on the way that the individual is perceived by others. Finally, "society", according to Mead, is where all of these interactions are taking place. A general description of Mead's compositions portray how outside social structures, classes, and power and abuse affect the advancement of self, personality for gatherings verifiably denied of the ability to characterize themselves.
Action assembly theory
Action assembly theory (AAT) is a communication theory that emphasizes psychological and social influences on human action. The goal is to examine and describe the links between the cognition and behavior – how an individual's thoughts get transformed into action. It was developed by John Greene.
Cultural-historical activity theory
The rapid rise of new forms of activities characterised by web-based social and participatory practices, 
, phenomena such as distributed workforce and the dominance of knowledge work, prompts a rethink of the third generation model, bringing with it the need, as suggested by Engestrōm, for a new, "fourth generation" activity system model. which activity theorists indeed have been working on in recent years. In fourth generation CHAT, the object(ive) will typically comprise multiple perspectives and contexts and be inherently transient; collaborations between actors, too, are likely to be temporary, with multiple boundary crossings between interrelated activities. Fourth-generation activity theorists have specifically developed activity theory to better accommodate Castells's (and others') insights into how work organization has shifted in the network society: they hence will focus less on the workings of individual activity systems (often represented by triangles) and more on the interactions across activity systems functioning in networks. The 2017 ISCAR congress (August, Quebec City) has the following theme: ""Taking a 360° view of the landscape of cultural-historical activity research:The state of our scholarship in practice".
Affiliative conflict theory
Affiliative conflict theory (ACT), also referred to as equilibrium theory or model, was first introduced in the 1960s by Michael Argyle. His article "Eye Contact, Distance and Affiliation", co-authored with Janet Dean was published in "Sociometry" in 1965, and has been used greatly as the base line for ACT. Michael Argyle had a long distinguished career in which he advanced the field of social psychology. His work on nonverbal communication greatly developed this theory and his book "The Psychology of Interpersonal Behavior" became an international bestseller in 1967. Argyle's curiosity regarding if social skills were learned in the same way as manual skills led him to research interpersonal behavior. Throughout his life's work he had various associates (Argyle & Dean, 1965; Argyle & Lalljee & Cook, 1968, Argyle & Ingham, 1972; Argyle & Ingham, Alkema & McCallin, 1972); all of which worked to validate the theory through their focus on the relationship between visual behavior (nonverbal behavior) and interpersonal distance (Coutts, pg. 3). Visual behavior research studies deal with influence, and with attributions made by observers. This reflects psychological research on nonverbal cues.
Activity-specific approach in temperament research
First known expression of this idea was in the work of Dodge, who studied mental fatigue. Dodge suggested that physical and mental efforts are regulated by different nervous processes.
Thermodynamic activity
In chemical thermodynamics, activity (symbol ) is a measure of the "effective concentration" of a species in a mixture, in the sense that the species' chemical potential depends on the activity of a real solution in the same way that it would depend on concentration for an ideal solution. The term "activity" in this sense was coined by the American chemist Gilbert N. Lewis in 1907.
Lev Vygotsky
In North America, Vygotsky's work was known from the end of the 1920s through a series of publications in English, but it did not have a major impact on research in general. In 1962 a translation of his posthumous 1934 book, "Thinking and Speech", published with the title,"Thought and Language", did not seem to change the situation considerably. It was only after an eclectic compilation of partly rephrased and partly translated works of Vygotsky and his collaborators, published in 1978 under Vygotsky's name as "Mind in Society", that the Vygotsky boom started in the West: originally, in North America, and later, following the North American example, spread to other regions of the world. This version of Vygotskian science is typically associated with the names of its chief proponents Michael Cole, James Wertsch, their associates and followers, and is relatively well known under the names of "cultural-historical activity theory" (aka CHAT) or—yet more distant from Vygotsky's legacy--"activity theory". Scaffolding, a concept introduced by Wood, Bruner, and Ross in 1976, is somewhat related to the idea of ZPD, although Vygotsky never used the term.
James Duesenberry
James Stemble Duesenberry (July 18, 1918 – October 5, 2009) was an American economist. He made a significant contribution to the Keynesian analysis of income and employment with his 1949 doctoral thesis "Income, Saving and the Theory of Consumer Behavior". Kenneth Arrow believed that it offered "one of the most significant contributions of the postwar period to our understanding of economic behavior". His theory, however, later disappeared from standard textbooks, although some, such as Robert H. Frank, argue that it outperforms the alternative theories that displaced it in the 1950s.
Thomas D. Wilson
Recently, Dr. Wilson has been an advocate for the adoption of activity theory in the area of information behaviour and in information systems research.
Activity theory
Activity theory has an interesting approach to the difficult problems of "learning" and, in particular, "tacit knowledge". Learning has been a favourite subject of management theorists, but it has often been presented in an abstract way separated from the work processes to which the learning should apply. Activity theory provides a potential corrective to this tendency. For instance, Engeström's review of Nonaka's work on "knowledge creation" suggests enhancements based on activity theory, in particular suggesting that the organisational learning process includes preliminary stages of goal and problem formation not found in Nonaka. Lompscher, rather than seeing learning as "transmission", sees the formation of learning goals and the
student's understanding of which things they need to acquire as the key to the formation of the learning activity.
Cultural-historical activity theory
Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) is a theoretical framework which helps to understand and analyse the relationship between the human mind (what people think and feel) and activity (what people do). It traces its origins to the founders of the cultural-historical school of Russian psychology L. S. Vygotsky and Aleksei N. Leontiev. Vygotsky's important insight into the dynamics of consciousness was that it is essentially subjective and shaped by the history of each individual's social and cultural experience. Especially since the 1990s, CHAT has attracted a growing interest among academics worldwide. Elsewhere CHAT has been defined as "a cross-disciplinary framework for studying how humans purposefully transform natural and social reality, including themselves, as an ongoing culturally and historically situated, materially and socially mediated process". Core ideas are: 1) humans act collectively, learn by doing, and communicate in and via their actions; 2) humans make, employ, and adapt tools of all kinds to learn and communicate; and 3) community is central to the process of making and interpreting meaning – and thus to all forms of learning, communicating, and acting.
Activation energy
The term Activation Energy was introduced in 1889 by the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius.
Behavioural change theories
In 1985, Ajzen expanded upon the theory of reasoned action, formulating the theory of planned behaviour, which also emphasises the role of intention in behaviour performance but is intended to cover cases in which a person is not in control of all factors affecting the actual performance of a behaviour. As a result, the new theory states that the incidence of actual behaviour performance is proportional to the amount of control an individual possesses over the behaviour and the strength of the individual's intention in performing the behaviour. In his article, Further hypothesises that self-efficacy is important in determining the strength of the individual's intention to perform a behaviour. In 2010, Fishbein and Ajzen introduced the reasoned action approach, the successor of the theory of planned behaviour.
Instrumental and value-rational action
Jürgen Habermas followed Parsons in using Weber's instrumental and value-rational action, under various labels, in a theory of human behavior. In his 1981 work," The Theory of Communicative Action", he sometimes called instrumental action "teleological" or simply "work". Value-rational action appeared as "normatively regulated". In later works he identified instrumental action as motivated by "nonpublic and actor-relative reasons," and value-rational action as motivated by "publicly defensible and actor-independent reasons".
Activity vector analysis
The AVA was developed by the psychologist Walter V. Clarke in 1942, based on work by Prescott Lecky, William Marston and others.
Generativity Theory
Generativity Theory is a formal, predictive theory of creative behavior in individuals. First proposed by American psychologist Robert Epstein in the early 1980s, the theory asserts that novel behavior is the result of a dynamic interaction among previously established behaviors; in other words, new ideas result from interconnections among old ones.
Sol Tax
Sol Tax is known as a founder of "Action Anthropology", a school of anthropological thought that forwent the traditional doctrine of non-interference in favor of co-equal goals of "learning and helping" from studied cultures.
Howard Rachlin
Howard Rachlin (born 1935) is an American psychologist and the founder of teleological behaviorism. He is Emeritus Research Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Stony Brook (SUNY, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA. His initial work was in the quantitative analysis of operant behavior in pigeons, on which he worked with William M. Baum, developing ideas from Richard Herrnstein's matching law. He subsequently became one of the founders of Behavioral Economics. His current research focuses on patterns of choice over time and how those patterns affect self-control (on which he worked with George Ainslie), including cooperation over time. His interests in Behavioral Economics include: decision making, the prisoner's dilemma, addiction, and gambling. He was one of the first board members of the Society for Quantitative Analysis of Behavior.
Trait activation theory
The principles of trait activation can be traced back as early as 1938, when Henry Murray described that situations "press" individuals to exhibit traits. Tett, Simonet, Walser, and Brown (2013) summarized the key contributions of others' ideas that preceded and influenced trait activation theory with the following quotes:
Georgy Shchedrovitsky
Shchedrovitsky presented an application of Vygotsky's activity theory with his development of organizational-activity games. These games were based on an application of Vygotsky's content-genetic logic to develop method of collective problem solving.
Activity-based working
The first known reference to an activity-based analysis of office work modes was by American architect Robert Luchetti from the late 1970s. He co-invented the now widely accepted concept of the office as a series of "activity settings" in 1983. In an activity settings-based environment, multiple settings are provided which have different technical and physical attributes assembled to support the variety of performance "modes" that take place in a work environment.
Social actions
The basic concept was primarily developed in the non-positivist theory of Max Weber to observe how human behaviors relate to cause and effect in the social realm. For Weber, sociology is the study of society and behavior and must therefore look at the heart of interaction. The theory of social action, more than structural functionalist positions, accepts and assumes that humans vary their actions according to social contexts and how it will affect other people; when a potential reaction is not desirable, the action is modified accordingly. Action can mean either a basic action (one that has a meaning) or an advanced social action, which not only has a meaning but is directed at other actors and causes action (or, perhaps, "inaction").
Fred Newman (philosopher)
In more recent years, Newman (along with his primary collaborator, Lois Holzman) incorporated other influences, including the 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Aleksey Leontyev's and Sergei Rubinshtein's activity theory, and the work of early Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky.
Routine activity theory
Routine activity theory is a sub-field of crime opportunity theory that focuses on situations of crimes. It was first proposed by Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen in their explanation of crime rate change in the United States 1947 - 1974. The theory has been extensively applied and has become one of the most cited theories in criminology. Unlike criminological theories of criminality, routine activity theory studies crime as an event, closely relates crime to its environment and emphasize its ecological process, thereby diverting academic attention away from mere offenders.
Activity theory
The application of activity theory to information systems derives from the work of Bonnie Nardi and Kari Kuutti. Kuutti's work is addressed below. Nardi's approach is, briefly, as follows: Nardi (p. 6) described activity theory as "...a powerful and clarifying descriptive tool rather than a strongly predictive theory. The object of activity theory is to understand the unity of consciousness and activity...Activity theorists argue that consciousness is not a set of discrete disembodied cognitive acts (decision making, classification, remembering), and certainly it is not the brain; rather, consciousness is located in everyday practice: you are what you do." Nardi (p. 5) also argued that "activity theory proposes a strong notion of "mediation"—all human experience is shaped by the tools and sign systems we use." Nardi (p. 6) explained that "a basic tenet of activity theory is that a notion of consciousness is central to a depiction of activity. Vygotsky described consciousness as a phenomenon that unifies attention, intention, memory, reasoning, and speech..." and (p. 7) "Activity theory, with its emphasis on the importance of motive and consciousness—which belongs only to humans—sees people and things as fundamentally different. People are not reduced to 'nodes' or 'agents' in a system; 'information processing' is not seen as something to be modelled in the same way for people and machines."
Collaboration
Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics, computer science, and economics that looks at situations where multiple players make decisions in an attempt to maximize their returns. The first documented discussion of game theory is in a letter written by James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave in 1713. Antoine Augustin Cournot's "Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth" in 1838 provided the first general theory. In 1928 it became a recognized field when John von Neumann published a series of papers. Von Neumann's work in game theory culminated in the 1944 book The "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" by von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.
Bonnie Nardi
Nardi collaborated with Victor Kaptelinin to write "Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design" (2009) and "Activity Theory in HCI: Fundamentals and Reflections" (2012) . These works discuss Activity Theory and offer a basis for understanding our relationship with technology.
Activity theory
Activity theory provides a number of useful concepts that can be used to address the lack of expression for 'soft' factors which are inadequately represented by most process modelling frameworks. One such concept is the internal plane of action. Activity theory recognises that each activity takes place in two planes: the external plane and the internal plane. The external plane represents the objective components of the action while the internal plane represents the subjective components of the action. Kaptelinin defines the "internal plane of actions" as "[...] a concept developed in activity theory that refers to the human ability to perform manipulations with an internal representation of external objects before starting actions with these objects in reality."
Cultural-historical activity theory
While Vygotsky formulated practical human activity as the general explanatory category in human psychology, he did not fully clarify its precise nature. The second generation moves, beyond Vygotsky's individually-focused to A.N. Leontiev's collective model. In Engeström's now famous graphic depiction of second-generation activity, the unit of analysis has been expanded to include collective motivated activity toward an object, making room for understanding how collective action by social groups mediates activity. Hence the inclusion of "community", "rules", "division of labor" and the importance of analyzing their interactions with each other. Rules may be explicit or implicit. Division of labor refers to the explicit and implicit organization of the community involved in the activity. Engeström articulated the clearest distinction between classic Vygotskian psychology, which emphasizes the way semiotic and cultural systems mediate human "action", and Leontiev's second-generation CHAT, which is focused on the meditational effects of the systemic organization of human "activity". In insisting that activity only exists in relation to rules, community and division of labor, Engeström expands "the unit of analysis" for studying human behavior from that of individual activity to a collective "activity system". The collective "activity system" includes the social, psychological, cultural and institutional perspectives in the analysis. In this conceptualization context or activity systems are inherently related to what Engeström argues are the deep-seated material practices and socioeconomic structures of a given culture. These societal dimensions had not been taken sufficiently into account by Vygotsky's, earlier, more 'simple' triadic model: in Leontiev's understanding, thought and cognition should be understood as a part of social life – as a part of the means of production and systems of social relations on one hand, and the intentions of individuals in certain social conditions on the other.
Talcott Parsons
In 1975, Parsons responded to an article by Jonathan H. Turner, "Parsons as a Symbolic Interactionist: A Comparison of Action and Interaction theory." Parsons acknowledged that action theory and symbolic interactionism should not be regarded as two separate, antagonistic positions but have overlapping structures of conceptualization. Parsons regarded symbolic interactionism and the theory of George Herbert Mead as valuable contributions to action theory that specify certain aspects of the theory of the personality of the individual. Parsons, however, criticized the symbolic interactionism of Herbert Blumer since Blumer's theory had no end to the openness of action. Parsons regarded Blumer as the mirror image of Claude Lévi-Strauss, who tended to stress the quasi-determined nature of macro-structural systems. Action theory, Parsons maintained, represented a middle ground between both extremes.
Aleksei N. Leontiev
Leont'ev's own research school is based on the thorough psychological analysis of the phenomenon of activity. Systematic development of the psychological foundations of activity theory was started in the 1930-s by Kharkov group of psychologists headed by Leont'ev and included such researchers as Zaporozhets, Gal'perin, Zinchenko, Bozhovich, Asnin, Lukov, etc. In its fullest form, activity theory was subsequently developed and institutionalized as the leading psychological doctrine in the Soviet Union in the post-war period after Leont'ev had moved to Moscow and took a position at the Moscow State University.
Four Fs (evolution)
The list of the four activities appears to have been first introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s in articles by psychologist Karl H. Pribram, with the fourth entry in the list sometimes being replaced by other terms such as "sex" or "mating and maternal behavior", although he himself did not use the term "four Fs".
Routine activity theory
Routine activity theory has its foundation in human ecology and rational choice theory. Over time, the theory has been extensively employed to study sexual crimes, robberies, cyber crimes, residential burglary and corresponding victimizations, among others. It is also worth noting that, in the study of criminal victimization, the routine activity theory are often regarded as "essentially similar" to lifestyle theory of criminology by Hinderlang, Gottfredson, and Garofalo (1978). More recently, routine activities theory has been repeatedly used in multilevel frameworks with social disorganization theory in understanding various neighborhood crimes.
Attention
In the twentieth century, the pioneering research of Lev Vygotsky and Alexander Luria led to the three-part model of neuropsychology defining the working brain as being represented by three co-active processes listed as Attention, Memory, and Activation. Attention is identified as one of the three major co-active processes of the working brain. A.R. Luria published his well-known book "The Working Brain" in 1973 as a concise adjunct volume to his previous 1962 book "Higher Cortical Functions in Man". In this volume, Luria summarized his three-part global theory of the working brain as being composed of three constantly co-active processes which he described as the; (1) Attention system, (2) Mnestic (memory) system, and (3) Cortical activation system. The two books together are considered by Homskaya's account as "among Luria's major works in neuropsychology, most fully reflecting all the aspects (theoretical, clinical, experimental) of this new discipline." The product of the combined research of Vygotsky and Luria have determined a large part of the contemporary understanding and definition of attention as it is understood at the start of the 21st-century.
Social exchange theory
During the beginning of this theory, The most comprehensive social exchange theories are those of the American social psychologists John W. Thibaut (1917-1986) and Harold H. Kelley (1921-2003), the American sociologists George C. Homans (1910-1989), Peter M. Blau (1918-2002), Richard Marc Emerson (? - 1982), and Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009) . He defined social exchange as the exchange of activity, tangible or intangible, and more or less rewarding or costing between at least two persons. After Homans founded the theory, other theorists continued to write about it, particularly Peter M. Blau and Richard M. Emerson, who in addition to Homans are generally thought of as the major developers of the exchange perspective within sociology. Homans' work emphasized the individual behavior of actors in interaction with one another. Although there are various modes of exchange, Homans centered his studies on dyadic exchange. John Thibaut and Harold Kelley are recognized for focusing their studies within the theory on the psychological concepts, the dyad and small group. Lévi-Strauss is recognized for contributing to the emergence of this theoretical perspective from his work on anthropology focused on systems of generalized exchange, such as kinship systems and gift exchange.
Activity theory
Some changes were introduced, apparently by importing notions from human–computer interaction theory. For instance, the notion of "rules", which is not found in Leont'ev, was introduced. Also, the notion of collective subject was introduced in the 1970s and 1980s (Leont'ev refers to "joint labour activity", but only has individuals, not groups, as activity subjects).
Symbolic interactionism
Two other theorists who have influenced symbolic interaction theory are Yrjö Engeström and David Middleton. Engeström and Middleton explained the usefulness of symbolic interactionism in the communication field in a variety of work settings, including "courts of law, health care, computer software design, scientific laboratory, telephone sales, control, repair, and maintenance of advanced manufacturing systems". Other scholars credited for their contribution to the theory are Thomas, Park, James, Horton Cooley, Znaniecki, Baldwin, Redfield, and Wirth. Unlike other social sciences, symbolic interactionism emphasizes greatly on the ideas of action instead of culture, class and power. According to behaviorism, Darwinism, pragmatism, as well as Max Weber, action theory contributed significantly to the formation of social interactionism as a theoretical perspective in communication studies.
Living educational theory
The idea of action research as a living practice entered the mainstream of action research from the book, "Action Research as a Living Practice" by Terrance Carson and Dennis Sumara in 1997. The term "educational theory" originated with the work of Jack Whitehead, a former lecturer at the University of Bath, and it was further developed and greatly improved methodologically by Jean McNiff in 2009. Whitehead's main emphasis for conducting research is to promote the individual under the guise of collaboration and research outcomes must be captured on video for authentic validation. Whitehead's view of action research promotes that living educational theory (he uses living theory and living educational theory interchangeably so it is difficult for a reader to know what he is writing about) should be aimed at the bringing of energy-flowing values as explanatory principles and standards of judgments into the Academy for the legitimation of living educational theories (Whitehead 2008). In the eyes of Whitehead, radical constructivism is at the core of living educational theory research.
August Cieszkowski
Cieszkowski coined the term historiosophy in his 1838 work "Prolegomena zur Historiosophie" ("Prolegomena to a Historiosophy"), a revision of the Hegelian philosophy of history. He adopted a threefold division of human history from medieval millenarians such as Joachim of Fiore and mixed it with Hegelian categories and concepts. He is arguably the creator of the "philosophy of action."
Activity theory
The levels of activity are also characterised by their purposes: "Activities are oriented to motives, that is, the objects that are impelling by themselves. Each motive is an object, material or ideal, that satisfies a need. Actions are the processes functionally subordinated to activities; they are directed at specific conscious goals... Actions are realised through operations that are determined by the actual conditions of activity."
Ballet d'action
Although the French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre is often credited with the original ideas and definitions of what he termed “ballet en action”, there were various other influences that contributed to the development of the genre. While Noverre’s 'Letter 1' provides a clear outline of his ideas of ballet d’action, he was not the first nor the last to develop a theory of a ballet in action.
Game theory
As a method of applied mathematics, game theory has been used to study a wide variety of human and animal behaviors. It was initially developed in economics to understand a large collection of economic behaviors, including behaviors of firms, markets, and consumers. The first use of game-theoretic analysis was by Antoine Augustin Cournot in 1838 with his solution of the Cournot duopoly. The use of game theory in the social sciences has expanded, and game theory has been applied to political, sociological, and psychological behaviors as well.
Activity theory
Leont'ev then progressed to humans and pointed out that people engage in "actions" that do not in themselves satisfy a need, but contribute towards the eventual satisfaction of a need. Often, these actions only make sense in a social context of a shared work activity. This led him to a distinction between "activities", which satisfy a need, and the "actions" that constitute the activities. Leont'ev also argued that the activity in which a person is involved is reflected in their mental activity, that is (as he puts it) material reality is "presented" to consciousness, but only in its vital meaning or significance.
Behavioral activation
Behavioral activation comes under the heading clinical behavior analysis or what is often termed third generation behavior therapy. Other behavior therapies are acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), as well as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP). Behavioral activation owes its basis to Charles Ferster's "Functional Analysis of Depression" (1973) which developed B.F. Skinner's idea of depression, within his analysis of motivation, as a lack of reinforcement.
Living educational theory
The idea of action research as a living practice entered the mainstream of action research from the book, "Action Research as a Living Practice" by Terrance Carson and Dennis Sumara in 1997. Carson and Sumara transformed the concept of traditional action research with the idea that, ..." participation in action research practices are particular ways of living and understanding that require more of the researcher than the "application" of research methods. Rather, action research is a lived practice that requires that the researcher not only investigate the subject at hand but, as well, provide some account of the way in which the investigation both shapes and is shaped by the investigator . This requires what Martin Buber called an "I-Thou" approach toward other and this approach applied to action research as well. To make Buber's language more modern and accessible, LET translated Buber's "I-Thou" approach toward another human being to an "I/you/we" approach to action research. This differs greatly from an approach to living theory action research imagined by Jack Whitehead (2002) where he imagines living theory action research as forming an "I-theory" of knowledge. Director of the Philosophy for Children Project at Notre Dame de Namur University William Barry proposes LET focuses on the connections between the researcher and the other person or subject where the lives of action researchers are inextricable linked in a profound manner with the individuals and communities involved in the subject of study. LET from a Barryian perspective is a critical theory and emancipatory action research approach which seeks the dialectic, not debate and battles of [discourse].
Wallace Craig
Wallace Craig (1876–1954) was an American experimental psychologist and behavior scientist. He provided a conceptual framework for the study of behavior organization and is regarded as one of the founders of ethology. Craig experimentally studied the behavioral expression of emotion, the way innate and learned behavioral tendencies are integrated, and how vocal as well as social behaviors are organized. He encouraged a view of behavior as an integrated process with evolutionary, motivational, experiential, social and ecological degrees of freedom. This integrative perspective helped shape modern behavioral science.
Maintenance actions
The success of Lewin's work in defining these group activities is attributable to his explanation of them in behavior theory terms within the context of role theory . This was in contrast to both previous and subsequent research which would utilize such picturesque but often unrealistic terms for group behaviors such as the eagle, the bear, or the possum (creating confusion among group participants who may not share the same ideas of animal behavior as the theorist who proposed the terms). Lewin also sought to explain these maintenance actions within the context of immediate experience of the group participant as opposed to roles associated with a person's individual personality. Group psychotherapist Irvin Yalom presents a contrasting view to Lewin in his position that group behaviors are developed in an individual's first group experiences (primarily in their family of origin) and then carried with them from group to group for the rest of their lives.
Active ageing
The concept of active ageing was originally inspired by the work of Robert Havighurst on activity theory, according to which elders' well-being relies on them staying active in later life; from this point of view, staying active is key to successfully ageing.
George C. Homans
George Casper Homans (August 11, 1910 – May 29, 1989) was an American Sociologist, founder of behavioral sociology and the Social Exchange Theory.
Gerontology
Activity is preferable to inactivity because it facilitates well-being on multiple levels. Because of improved general health and prosperity in the older population, remaining active is more feasible now than when this theory was first proposed by Havighurst nearly six decades ago. The activity theory is applicable for a stable, post-industrial society, which offers its older members many opportunities for meaningful participation.Weakness: Some aging persons cannot maintain a middle-aged lifestyle, due to functional limitations, lack of income, or lack of a desire to do so. Many older adults lack the resources to maintain active roles in society. On the flip side, some elders may insist on continuing activities in late life that pose a danger to themselves and others, such as driving at night with low visual acuity or doing maintenance work to the house while climbing with severely arthritic knees. In doing so, they are denying their limitations and engaging in unsafe behaviors.
Leading activity
The notion of a leading activity is part of a broader theory of activity that attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and social aspects of development. Despite many detailed descriptive accounts of the developmental forms of memory, perception, and cognition in various phases of childhood (e.g. Piaget's work), often missing is an explanation for "how" or "why" the child develops these psychological processes (Karpov 2003: 138). The exploration of leading activities seeks to illuminate these questions. Rather than biological maturation or stimulus-response learning, specific types of social activity are seen as generating human development. Because of its attention to causal dynamics, the neo-Vygotskian theory has been called "the most comprehensive approach to the problem of determinants and mechanisms of child development (Karpov 2003: 138)."
Appropriation of knowledge
Appropriation in education is often understood and analyzed through activity theory. This theory was developed by Aleksei N. Leontiev and focuses on understanding the socio-cultural context (specifically the setting) learning occurs in. Activity theory is predicated on the assumption that a person's frameworks for thinking are developed and carried out in specific settings, and that these settings mediate cognitive development. Since appropriation also places a strong emphasis on setting, these theories complement each other when being used to analyze learning environments.