In this paper, the relative phase relationship between flare index and sunspot activity （sunspot numbers and sunspot areas） is investigated. It is found that （i） the flare index and sunspot activity are asynchronous in phase space at all period scales, and the former lags behind the latter, which implies our results are supported for the integral response model; （ii） their different definitions and physical meanings may be a major reason for their phase asynchrony between them, and the solar flare activity favor to be related to the magnetic complex rather than magnetic strength.
