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Re: [xmca] Operations



As you move through the text, each terms seems sometimes to be used in a
technical fashion within a theoretical framework, while at other times they
are used in common sense terms. My interpretation.
let others comment if they care to.
mike

On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 9:31 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net> wrote:

> Where do you see this, Mike, the wobbliness of "acivity" and "operation"?
> Remember that for ANL, "activity" is inclusive of all units of activity,
> molar, meso and micro. So he will be talking about "activity" long before
> creatures get to participate in "activities."
>
> Andy
>
> mike cole wrote:
>
>> That is a fascinating text, Andy. but both the terms activity and
>> operation appear to wobble in their usages/meaning over the course of the
>> text. Its a really interesting question. In in beginning was the dead as an
>> underlying assumption that carries a lot with it!
>> mike
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 9:02 PM, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com <mailto:
>> lchcmike@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>     That's great Andy. thanks.
>>     Is this what you were referring to, Manfred?
>>     mike
>>
>>     On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 8:56 PM, Andy Blunden <ablunden@mira.net
>>     <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>> wrote:
>>
>>         Mike, I attach pp 154-180 from A N Leontyev's "Development of
>>         Mind" where he introduces the concept of "operation" as part
>>         of a "second stage of evolution of the psyche".
>>
>>         Full text at http://www.erythrospress.com/**store/leontyev.html<http://www.erythrospress.com/store/leontyev.html>
>>
>>         Andy
>>
>>         mike cole wrote:
>>
>>             Yes, thanks Andy: OPERATIONS are something like automated
>>             actions, subject to conditions not goals.
>>             mike
>>
>>             On Mon, Apr 8, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Andy Blunden
>>             <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
>>             <mailto:ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>> wrote:
>>
>>                 "operations", you mean.
>>                 a
>>                 mike cole wrote:
>>
>>                     What is your understanding of this issue, Manfred.
>>             In the text
>>                     most used by Americans, *actions*
>>                     are something like automated actions, subject to
>>             condions not
>>                     goals. Components of actions.
>>
>>                     What does it mean, ontogenetically, for operations
>>             to preceed
>>                     actions? How does this relate to the classic
>>             Leontiev formulation?
>>
>>                     Mike
>>
>>                     On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 6:28 PM, Andy Blunden
>>                     <ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>
>>             <mailto:ablunden@mira.net <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>
>>                     <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
>>             <mailto:ablunden@mira.net> <mailto:ablunden@mira.net
>>             <mailto:ablunden@mira.net>>>> wrote:
>>
>>                         Michael, here is what Manfred said in his message:
>>
>>                            "A young infant has not already established a
>>                     goal-driven level of
>>                            actions. In the first weeks one can observe the
>>                     acquisition of
>>                         first
>>                            operations and of first expectations what
>>             should
>>                     happen. But these
>>                            expectations are not yet represented as a
>>             mental image
>>                     about the
>>                            desired future states. This is the product
>>             of the
>>                     acquisition of a
>>                            sign system which enables the person to
>>             evoke and
>>                      imagine a future
>>                            state in the here and now and to start to
>>             strive for
>>                     it. And for
>>                            this starting point, not only to imagine
>>             different
>>                     future states,
>>                            but also to select one of them and to start
>>             to strive
>>                     for it,
>>                            emotional processes come into play that
>>             color one of
>>                     the imagined
>>                            future state e.g. in a state worth striving
>>             for and
>>                     that mobilize
>>                            the executive power to start striving for
>>             it. However,
>>                     the ability
>>                            to form such notions of goals and to
>>             transform them
>>                     into actions is
>>                            not something that occurs automatically. It
>>             emerges in
>>                     a long-drawn
>>                            ontogenetic learning process in which the
>>             attainment of
>>                     goals
>>                            through actions is tried, tested, and
>>             increasingly
>>                     optimized."
>>                         I make no claim to be a psychologist, Michael,
>>             but it always
>>                         seemed to me that ascribing a knowledge of the
>>             world to
>>                     neonates
>>                         would be a hard position to sustain. We have
>>             to find some
>>                     other
>>                         way of understanding the behaviour of neonates
>>             and infants
>>                     other
>>                         than presuming that they form a goal and then
>>             take appropriate
>>                         premeditated action to realise that goal.
>>
>>                         An "operation" is a form of behaviour which
>>             has the
>>                     potential to
>>                         be transformed into an action, that is, for
>>             the subject to
>>                     become
>>                         consciously aware of the behaviour and subject
>>             it to conscious
>>                         control. So at first I think we have to say
>>             that the neonate
>>                         smiles, moves its hands around, pouts,
>>             squeezes, etc, etc.,
>>                         without first forming the idea "I think I will
>>             smile at this
>>                         woman, and she might give me some more food"
>>             or any such
>>                     thing.
>>                         But after the relevant stimuli have been
>>             repeatedly
>>                     accompanied by
>>                         the various kinds of responses which adult
>>             carers provide
>>                     to the
>>                         child and the successful satisfaction of the
>>             stimuli, the
>>                     child
>>                         might begin to associate the behaviour with an
>>             object,
>>                     accomodate
>>                         its behaviour to the social world around them,
>>             and what
>>                     began as
>>                         an operation may be transformed into an
>>             action. Otherwise,
>>                     I think
>>                         we are imply a hell of a lot about innate
>>             knowledge!
>>
>>                         Andy
>>
>>                         Glassman, Michael wrote:
>>
>>                             .... But I also I think disagree with Andy
>>             to some
>>                     extent.  Do
>>                             infants simply engage in operations?  Is that
>>                     possible? Isn't
>>                             there an action tied to every operation,
>>             or else why
>>                     is the
>>                             infant doing it.  I think infants
>>             definitely do react to
>>                             stimuli (feedback I think can be define
>>             through
>>                     information
>>                             processing but it can also perhaps be
>>             defined through
>>                     social
>>                             cognitive theory which is more behavior
>>             oriented).
>>                      But when
>>                             they react don't they have an aim of some
>>             type?  It
>>                     might be
>>                             very rudimentary but it is an aim and the
>>             child is
>>                     developing
>>                             operations to meet those aims (it also
>>             seems to me
>>                     that there
>>                             are much fuzzier boundaries between
>>             operations and
>>                     actions at
>>                             this point).
>>
>>
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>>
>>
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>> ------------------------------**------------
>>                 *Andy Blunden*
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>>
>>
>>
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>> ------------------------------**------------
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