Neither manipulation nor maieutics: essence and origins of activity-based psychotechnics

Abstract

Abstract

Context and relevance. The article presents an analysis of the 1948 study by N.G. Morozova, a disciple of L.S. Vygotsky and a colleague of A.N. Leontiev at the Department of Child Psychology at the Psychological Institute. The study focused on the examination and formation of motivation in children to understand adult verbal instructions. The relevance of revisiting this material is driven by contemporary debates on possible approaches to "working with the psyche", one of which is exemplified in the analyzed study. Objective. To identify the origins and specific characteristics of activity-oriented psychotechnical methods. Hypothesis. Activity-based psychotechnics cannot be reduced to either manipulation or maieutics. Instead, it represents a form of “life-enhancement” ( zhiznetvorchestvo ), which involves transforming or forming a subject’s meaningful activity, with the psyche serving as a specific function of that activity. Methods and materials. The study employs a historical-methodological analysis of research conducted within the framework of A.N. Leontiev’s school of activity psychology and published in the 1940s, as well as a relevant archival document. Results. The study demonstrates that the psychotechnical methods used by N.G. Morozova aimed at the sequential formation of children’s motivation to comprehend verbal instructions in full detail (through the organization of joint activity with adults that is meaningful to them). This process first focuses on what the adult proposes to do, and subsequently on how to do it. It is argued that this work contributes to the study of the structuring function of the motive and to the long-standing debate regarding the relationship between the motivational and operational components of activity. Conclusions. N.G. Morozova’s research, along with other works from A.N. Leontiev’s school in the 1940s, is of more than just historical interest. Their analysis should be continued within the context of contemporary discussions on human freedom and the relationship between word and deed .