Российская психология в пространстве мировой науки

Russian AT is an essentially materialistic theoretical approach. Materialistic psychological perspectives, such as behaviorism and psychobiology are mostly based on a straight-forward interpretation of Darwin's theory, putting the sources and the causes of the development in the external world. It is the stimulus, the change of the environment, which is the cause of the change of the behavior and the structure of living beings for these theories. Dialectical materialism, realized in the Russian AT, on the contrary, accounts for both continuity and discontinuity, seeking internal origins and causes of development, which are viewed as a result of resolving internal conflicts. This entailed a primary focus on ruptures and discontinuities in evolution: on the principle differences between animate and inanimate matter and between human and animal. The former was implemented in wide-scale investigations of sensory processes, supposed to be adjacent to the border between physiological and psychological aspects of reality, and the latter accounts for enhanced development and specific character of Soviet comparative psychology (Mironenko, 2009b; 2010).

There is an important point of linguistic origin which has caused confusion in the notions "Sub'ekt Approach" and "Theory of Dejatelnost" in the international literature, which we have to consider. There are two key words in the context of the AT:

• Sub'ektnost (субъектность),

• Dejatelnost (деятельность).

The translation of both usually turns out to be the same: Activity. But in Russian these words differ in their meaning. And moreover – there is another Russian word – "activnost", which is precisely translated as "activity". So the English translation does not allow us to obtain the right understanding of the difference.

Let's consider the exact meanings of the concepts "Sub'ektnost" and "Dejatelnost".

The concept of Sub'ekt (and "Sub'ektnost" for a quality to be a Sub'ekt) refers to S. L. Rubinstein whose main idea was that Psyche is a procreation of active interaction of individual with the environment. Sub'ekt means somebody whose activity is generated by his own needs, who is choosing and pursuing his own aims, serving his own purposes: a self-determined and self-actualizing agent[17]. According to Rubinstein, Psyche has developed in the course of evolution as a means for a living being to promote its survival and to pursue its needs. Psychic structure is determined by the inner needs of the individual; so to reveal a psychic set up, the needs should be analyzed. It is the inner sources of activity which Rubinstein focused on.

Vygotsky accepted the idea of "Sub'ektnost" and relied on that in his Cultural-Historical theory. Vygotsky points out: An infant is a "sub'ekt" of development" (Vygotsky, 1982, V. 2, p. 281). He emphasized that culture is not just poured into the child: on the contrary, the child actively enters into culture, and commandeering culture elements which he needs, taking them from the outside and internalizing them.

"Dejatelnost" means a process of active and purposeful treatment of the environment, the outward activity. This was the main concept in Leontiev theory. He based on the Vygotsky's idea that human mental functions are structured in the process of social interaction, in the process of outward activity (Dejatelnost), and believed that analysis of Dejatelnost is the only way to understand Psyche.

Leontiev's Activity Theory

The theory of Leontiev was based on a combination of ideas of Rubinstein and Vygotsky. Vygotsky is mostly known outside Russia for his concept of the zone of proximal development. But his main contribution is a more general theory of internalization, known also as the socio-cultural historical theory. According to this theory the main part of human psychic set-up is formed in the course of socialization through interaction with other people and operating with tools. So first a psychic function is structured in the process of outward activity and then it is internalized.

For example, oral speech originates when a baby, initially lacking command of language, is involved in dialogue with his mother who is talking with the baby while she is attending his needs. In the course of the interaction with the mother, elements of the dialogue, words and phrases are internalized by the baby, and form the basis of endophasia and verbal thinking.

According to this theory, human psyche development is socio-culturally – historically specific. Development of human psychic functions is mediated by culture tools, which makes it different from the development of other living species. Human development, as Vygotsky stated, "switches from the natural path of development to the cultural one" when the "ignition" of the latter occurs in the course of socialization.