In human activity, his needs are completed. They also activate it. That is, in the process of activity, actual needs are satisfied, new ones are formed. However, in this case, there is not only a change in needs, but also a change in a person’s individuality. What other influence does activity have on human development? Let’s figure it out.
What it is
Activity is a form of human activity aimed at cognition, transformation of the surrounding world, oneself and the conditions of one’s existence. This is what distinguishes humans from animals, emphasizes the social in human nature.
- Activity is not limited to meeting needs.
- It is determined by the goals and requirements of society.
- The development of personality, human consciousness (including self-awareness) is associated with actions.
- This is a deliberately regulated process of human interaction with the world.
In activity, a person acts as a creator, a creator. In its process, the following develop:
- intellectual abilities of a person;
- creative imagination;
- worldview;
- system of ideals and values;
- emotional and aesthetic attitude to the world.
As a member of society, a person is valuable when he leads an active working, social life, performs actions and bears responsibility for them.
Subject of activity
Activity is always objectified. The subject is what it is aimed at. It can exist independently or be created in the process of the activity itself.
Operating principles
The activity is based on the principle of functionality and the principle of consistency.
- The first involves relying on already developed mental elements that are mobilized to achieve the goal.
- The principle of consistency assumes the inclusion of individual personality traits, on the basis of which several blocks in the structure can be distinguished.
Activity structure
Six blocks can be distinguished. Each of the elements is interconnected with others, interpenetrating.
Motives
This is where needs come into play. A motive is an objectified need. The desire to satisfy the need, that is, to receive a specific object, encourages activity. Activity is impossible without motive.
Goals
The main element. Has two forms of manifestation:
- as a human-presented result;
- as the desired level of achievement.
Program
A person decides what and how he should do, that is, it is a choice of methods and means, an assessment of his own resources. The work includes the cognitive, motivational, and executive spheres.
Information base
Its effectiveness depends on the adequacy and completeness of information data on the conditions of activity.
Making decisions
One of the alternative options is selected, mastered, rules and criteria for achieving the goal are developed.
Personal qualities significant for activity
These are character traits, abilities, inclinations and other individual characteristics that will help you achieve your goal.
Activity components
Activity always has an internal plan and an external manifestation, between which there is an inextricable connection. From external operations with objects (objective thinking), information, being transformed by the psyche, turns into internal images, ideals (figurative thinking). The process of such a transition is called interiorization.
The opposite action (creating something materially through internal representations) is exteriorization.
Action is a tool in achieving a goal
Action is a part of an activity aimed at achieving an intermediate result in specific conditions. Consists of operations – methods of execution according to the conditions.
Physical activities
These are external, motor actions with objects that consist of movements.
Intelligent actions
Internal mental actions with images and concepts based on external actions with objects.
The psyche is a regulator of activity
The reflection of the world by the psyche occurs consciously, that is, in the process of actions, a person:
- realizes (partially or completely) the purpose of his actions;
- represents the result;
- perceives and evaluates the conditions in which one has to act;
- builds a step-by-step plan, an algorithm of operations;
- makes volitional efforts;
- monitors the process;
- experiencing successes and failures.
Knowledge, abilities, skills, habits
Knowledge, abilities, skills, or ZUN – the basis responsible for the organization and management of practical activities.
Knowledge
These are images of sensations and perceptions, further processed into representations and concepts. Without them, conscious purposeful activity is impossible. Knowledge increases the efficiency of actions.
Skills
This is the mastery of a way of performing an action, which does not require reinforcement with exercises. Conscious individual control is the main difference between skills. They are closely related to thinking and are impossible without active intellectual activity. Skills allow you to find a way out of non-standard situations, to react to changes in external conditions.
Skills
Skills are actions brought to automatism. The success of the activity depends on the skills. Skills are formed through exercises – repeated repetition of a specific action (s). The skill is based on a dynamic stereotype, that is, a neural connection between action elements. This happens uncontrollably, but if some inaccuracy arises, then the person immediately notices it. The stronger the neural connection, the faster and better the action.
Skills are motor, thinking, sensory, behavioral. A skill is formed in several stages:
- introductory (comprehension of actions, familiarity with the techniques of execution);
- preparatory (conscious, but inept performance of the action);
- standardizing (unity and automatism of actions);
- situational (mastering the arbitrariness of the action).
Learning new skills is always influenced by old ones. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it gets in the way. In the first case, we are talking about the coordination of skills, in the second – about interference (contradiction). Skills are consistent when:
- the system of movements of one skill coincides with the system of movements of another;
- one skill is a means of better assimilation of another;
- the end of one skill is the beginning of another and vice versa.
Accordingly, interference occurs under the opposite conditions.
Habits
A habit is an action that has become a need. Habits are positive and negative. Habits, like skills, are based on dynamic stereotypes. Habits are formed through:
- imitation;
- multiple random repetition;
- conscious purposeful learning.
Can be a driving or inhibiting factor in the performance of an activity.
Activities
There are many types of activities, but in psychology it is customary to distinguish 4 main ones.
Communication
Communication is the first activity in which a person participates (intimate and personal communication with the mother). In this form of activity, the first development of the personality takes place.
The purpose of communication is to establish mutual understanding, personal and business relationships, provide mutual assistance, educational and educational influence of people on each other.
It should be noted that some researchers do not consider communication to be an independent activity, but rather call it a means for realizing another activity, achieving the goals of another activity. However, in infancy, it is this species that is leading.
Game
Play is the main activity of childhood, but it persists at subsequent age stages. Allows you to assimilate the social experience of human activity and human relations. For adults, play is relaxation, stress relief.
Playful activity prepares a person for further education and work. She develops:
- thinking,
- memory,
- imagination,
- Attention,
- capabilities,
- will.
And also determines the formation of character.
Studies
Educational activity was separated from labor activity. Assumes:
- assimilation of information about the properties of the surrounding world (knowledge), techniques, operations (skills);
- development of the ability to choose techniques and operations in accordance with the goals and conditions (skills).
In educational activities, knowledge is assimilated, skills and abilities are developed, and abilities are developed.
Labor
Labor is an activity aimed at creating a socially significant product. Labor is the basis of a person’s existence, his mental, personal development.
There are other types of activities, but they are all built within the framework of one of the four named or at the junction of several types. The choice depends on the strength, quantity, originality of the needs of a particular person.
However, at each age, a person performs several types of activities at once, moreover, only one remains the leader. For example, for an adult it is work.
Individual style of activity
This is the adaptation of the human nervous system and the characteristics of the body to the activity being performed. The individual style is based on:
- a person’s temperament;
- skills;
- skills;
- experience.
The purpose of such an adaptation is to achieve the best result with the lowest cost. Temperament determines the success and failure of a person in specific activities.
Epilogue
Conscious purposeful activity – the difference between people and animals. In its process, a person creates objects of material and spiritual culture, transforms his abilities, ensures the progress (although sometimes regression) of society, affects nature (preserves or destroys).
Any activity is a creative way out of the natural, work on oneself and the world. Man not only consumes, but also creates. With her help, he influences his life.
Thanks to her, the mental development of the personality is carried out. However, at the same time, mental processes (perception, attention, imagination, memory, thinking, speech) are components and even separate types of activity.
