Abstract

This article, part of a postdoctoral research literature review, presents the evolution of the user studies to information behavior, through a bibliographic review. It describes the main characteristics of the behavioral, cognitive/interactionist, and integrative/multifaceted approaches, associated with information behavior. It shows the need for a more in-depth reflection on the use of the term “informational behavior” for “informational practice” when used interchangeably from three points of tension: the scope of the cognitive approach concerning the social perspective, which discusses categorized limits; the critiques to constructionism, about the idea that its main characteristic is the knowledge constructed through social interaction, as well as to the impossibility of attributing all human development to human interaction; and finally, the change from a cognitive perspective to an integrative perspective, which requires an emphasis on the interaction among the cognitive, social, cultural, organizational and emotional contexts, among others.

Keywords
Information behaviour; User studies; Information practice; Terminology