Abstract: I consider it useful to compare George H. Mead’s conception of social act, Talcott Parsons’ conception of social action and Florian Znaniecki’s biographical method, from the perspective not only of sociology but, more generally, of cognitive sciences and John Bowlby’s attachment theory. Parsons, who took up some of the theoretical ideas of Vilfredo Pareto, Émile Durkheim and Max Weber, is certainly one of the most important classical authors for the sociological study of the structure of social action.