Re: [xmca] Molar, Molecular and Additive behaviour

Hi Andy,
I think he expresses the constitutive relation between actions and
activity. Activity is not just the sum of actions, it presupposes
them but is itself presupposed by the actions that constitute it. I
am pasting the definition from OED, which appears to be consistent
with this (my) reading of Leont'ev. Leont'ev and Vygotsky want to do
unit analysis, not element/al analysis. That is, even if you can
identify structures within activity, these cannot stand on their own
like elements. What they are is dependent on all the other structures
that can be identified, with which they stand in a constitutive unit,
and which are subordinate to activity. :-)

molar, adj.3

2. Psychol. Designating a large-scale unit of behaviour, esp. an
integrated set of responses serving to bring about a common goal, as
distinguished from an elementary unit of behaviour such as a
physiological response (cf. MOLECULAR adj. 5); of or relating to (the
study of) such behaviour.

        
Cheers,
Michael

On 29-Aug-08, at 7:11 AM, Michael Glassman wrote:

Andy,

This is just my perspective, but I still believe Activity Theory goes
back to roots in work done by Stanislavsky - in particular "On Being
an Actor" and his book on character development. I think the
argument that Stanislavsky makes is that you should never consider
each scene individually, as encapsulated and whole, I guess you could
say there should be no reification of a scene. You have to consider
a scene, and the actions of a character, not only in terms of the
entire play, but in terms of what has come before and what comes
after - that activity is part of an ongoing process. Stanislavsky
was working off the new form of playwrights such as Ibsen, Strindberg
and especially Chekhov of course. To give an example, when Nora
walks out on Torvald and her father at the end of "A Doll's House"
the scene makes little sense in an of itself, and if you think of the
scenes of the play as simply being additive you are shocked. But if
you consider it as part of a moral activity, with a building
motivation that leads to a choice of action it is extraordinarily
complelling.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Michael

________________________________

From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of Andy Blunden
Sent: Fri 8/29/2008 9:53 AM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [xmca] Molar, Molecular and Additive behaviour

Can anyone help me out here. Leontyev says:

"But human practice is not just a series or a sum of
actions. In other words, 'activity is a molar, not an
additive unit'."

OED says:

Molar, Psychol. Designating a large-scale unit of behaviour,
esp. an integrated set of responses serving to bring about a
common goal, as distinguished from an elementary unit of
behaviour such as a physiological response (cf. MOLECULAR
adj. 5); of or relating to (the study of) such behaviour.

1932 E. C. TOLMAN Purposive Behavior "On the one hand,
Watson has defined behavior in terms of its strict physical
and physiological details, i.e., in terms of
receptor-process, conductor-process, and effector-process
per se. We shall designate this as the molecular definition
of behavior. And on the other hand, he has come to recognize
that behavior is more than and different from the sum of its
physiological parts. Behavior has descriptive and defining
properties of its own. And we shall designate this latter as
the molar definition of behavior."

Am I missing something. By "not additive" does Leontyev
simply mean that there's more to it than S -> R ?

Andy

David Preiss wrote:
> based on the work made by max plank and run by san francisco's
> exploratorium
> http://www.exploratorium.edu/evidence/
>
>
>
> David Preiss, Ph.D.
> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
> Escuela de Psicología
> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
> Av Vicuña Mackenna - 4860
> 7820436 Macul
> Santiago, Chile
>
> Fono: 3544605
> Fax: 3544844
> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
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Skype andy.blunden
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