After digging into the disagreement, I found that there are two interpretations of the word active and passive.

  • In the context of whether information gathering is active or passive:.

  • Interpretation 1:.

    • Passive: information gathering with extrinsic motivation
    • Active: intrinsic motivation to gather information
  • Interpretation 2: The

    • Passive: information gathering done through [one-way communication
    • Active: Information gathering done through [interactive communication

For example, in the situation “I attended a study group and listened to a lecture and left because of my own interest rather than an order from my boss,” Interpretation 1 is judged as “active” because it is based on intrinsic motivation, while Interpretation 2 is judged as “passive” because it is only received in one direction.


This page is auto-translated from /nishio/能動的と受動的 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.