Units of Action - A Psychology of ‘Natural’ Behaviour Patterns Using the Example of Sport

Summary The article profiles Wilhelm Salber’s concept of the unit of action (Handlungseinheit) as a morphological–Gestalt-psychological approach to “natural” process forms in everyday life, exemplified by sport. In contrast to classical action-psychological functional models (goal orientation, control-loop models, feedback), action is conceived as a tension-laden movement of form, aligned with core ideas from Gestalt psychology and Lewin’s field theory. Theoretically, the four traits of the unit of action—Unification, Stundenwelt (a situated experiential “hour-world”), Werdeform (form-of-becoming), and Durchformung (pervasive shaping)—are elaborated and interwoven with the conditions of psychic form formation (metamorphosis of meanings, historization, practice/Einübung, organization, constitution/Verfassung, and the unit of action itself). Using endurance running as an example, the article shows how everyday stresses are transformed into a specific, present-oriented and immediate experience through the rhythmic figuration of the action of endurance running. This shows how transitions within units of action enable psychological self-regulation in everyday life, and how individual acts can be understood only with regard to the whole Gestalt. Methodologically, the article argues for descriptive- phenomenological procedures and discusses scope, operationalisability, and transferability to collective contexts. For sport-psychological practice, the approach affords added value: transitions, crises, and reorganizations within unfolding units of action can be purposefully accompanied and shaped.