Activity approach in psychology as a methodological basis for the study of attention

The purpose of the article is to analyze the capacity of the activity approach as a methodological basis for the study of attention. There is a rich history of the researches of attention in psychology but there is no unity among psychologists in the understanding of the phenomenon of attention yet. The difficulty in the study of attention is also due to the fact that the range of attention phenomena is wide and extremely diverse. This fact inevitably leads researchers to different interpretations of the essence of attention. Such a problem in psychological science can be resolved based on the activity approach of A. N. Leontiev, which allows to holistically consider the whole variety of phenomena of attention. The article presents that the activity approach allows to look differently at the phenomenon of attention and assimilate the richest empirical material accumulated in psychology, explain the multifunctionality of attention, and resolve the dilemma on the status of attention. In article two main hypotheses of attention based on the activity, approach is formulated. The hypothesis of Yu. B. Hippenreiter considers attention as an aspect of any focused activity, according to the hypothesis of Yu. B. Dormashev, attention is an independent activity with its own content and functions.