Exploring Psychological Systems with the 'Method of Units'

Abstract

The paper considers the units of psychological systems proposed in the works of the founders of activity theory (L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein and others) from the perspective of a fuzzy logic model of the unity of opposite sides of the units developed by the author. A clear distinction is drawn between the concepts of 'unit', 'basic unit' and 'cell' of a psychological system. The paper also reviews some goals, outcomes and means of exploring psychological systems with the 'method of units'. This method is aimed at finding components in a system that have significant features in common with this system, features which can turn into each other through the 'moments of their equality' or unity. Describing such transitions (for example, of conscious actions into unconscious operations) helps to reveal the mechanisms of the corresponding psychological processes. The paper draws a comparison between the 'chunks of information' in cognitive psychology and the 'units of psychological interaction' in activity theory

Keywords

• units
• basic units and cells of psychological systems
• unity of opposite sides of a system