Leontyev's Activity Theory And The Annotation In Ecological Perspective

Activity Theory is a kind of psychological theory founded by Leontyev who was a great psychologist in former Soviet Union. Its core idea was that psychology should research the human activity, but not the psychological phenomenon. The Activity Theory has had a huge impact on the former Soviet Union's psychology, the Russia's psychology and even the world's psychology. The modern psychologist Engestrom has expanded and developmented the Activity Theory and put forward a new generation of Activity Theory. He advocated a systematic and standardized description to social activities to research the learning activities, commercial activities, medical activities and other specific activities. For nearly a decade, Activity Theory was widely applied to educational psychology, learning psychology, business psychology, management psychology, psychotherapy and many other areas.Some researchers have found that there were some ideas of Ecology in Leontyev's Activity Theory and this was why many researchers have been concerned about the Activity Theory. Ecological approach was a trend in the contemporary psychology. The ecology-oriented psychology advocated studying the psychological phenomenon in real life to improve the ecological validity. Some researchers have found the idea of ecology in Activity Theory, but nobody has explained and analyzed these ideas systematically. The purpose of this study is to explain and analyze the Ecology thinking in the Leontyev's Activity Theory.The first aspect of this study is the view of the object of study. Leontyev considered that all psychological phenomena were produced in some particular activity, so researchers must pay attention to the activity. Therefore, the object of the psychology should be the activity, rather than the psychological phenomenon. The activity is a part of real life, and is a dynamic and systemic entirety. So the thinking of the Activity Theory is a kind of ecology idea. The second aspect of this study is the view of the research method. Leontyev advocated some methods like the unit analysis, the natural experiment and description analysis. The unit analysis was a holistic method which seen human mind as a unit. The method of natural experiment focused on the authenticity and naturality of the process of the experiment, and emphasized on excavating the true motivation of the subjects. The method of description analysis focused on analyzing the structure and elements of the specific activities. All of these methods were emphasized the ecological validity of the study. So there were some ideas of ecology in Leontyev's Activity Theory.The third aspect of this study is the view of the consciousness. Leontyev considered that the consciousness which is a specific human psychological phenomena arised from the social activities of people. The consciousness not only arised form the social activities, but also had a close relationship with the motivation of the activities. So researchers must study the consciousness in the specific activities. This kind of research about consciousness is essentially a pattern of ecological method.The fourth aspect of this study is the view of the personality. Leontyev considered that the personality is not a kind of invariable character of some one, but is variational in one's avtivity. Activity determines the formation and development of personality. In turn, personality determines the form and direction of activity. So researchers must study the personality in the specific activities. This kind of research about personality is also essentially a pattern of ecological method.The last aspect of this study is the modern significance of the Leontyev's Activity Theory. The Activity Theory not only provided a systematic ecological perspective, but also provided a systematic ecological method. In addition, the Activity Theory had a very important practical significance to life practice and a very important theoretical significance to psychology in China.There are three conclusions. The first one is that because the Activity Theory is consistent with the trend of the development of modern psychology, so it is still very popular. The second one is that there are some ideas of ecology in Activity Theory, and the Activity Theory is essentially a pattern of ecological research. The last one is that the Activity Theory is a very good pattern of ecological research and it has provided some illumination to how to carry on the psychological researches on the ecological approach.