Abstract
In spite of the fact that psychology has been committed to an evolutionary framework for over a century, ecological approaches to psychology, first proposed several decades ago, continue to be marginalized within the discipline. Considering the shared lineage of evolutionary and ecological thinking, this situation seems paradoxical, and, indeed, it reflects an underlying tension between the psychological and ecological sciences. The basis for this tension can be traced historically to psychology’s early embrace of Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary view of environment-mind correspondence, which is incompatible with the dynamic, relational character of ecosystems thinking. In this respect, William James criticized Spencer for failing to recognize the active and selective character of thought and action, which for James, is the hallmark of psychological processes. From this starting point, James’s psychology and philosophy of radical empiricism offers a relational and dynamic approach that is more in keeping with ecological thinking, particularly as these ideas were extended by James’s student, E. B. Holt, in his treatment of purposive, situated behavior. James Gibson’s ecological approach to perceiving builds, in part, on these bodies of work, and his concept of affordances locates meaning in perceiver-environment relations, that is, in situated action. Further, the ecological approach of Roger Barker, with its concept of behavior setting, offers an opportunity to bring sociocultural processes to bear on situated action. It is seen that socially normative actions are situated in behavior settings and have the character of being both regulated and flexible, dual properties that are examined through a consideration of Hayek’s analysis of purposive action. Collectively, these contributions advance an approach to psychology that is coordinative with the perspective of the ecological sciences.
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Notes
- 1.
In his writings of the 1860s, Wundt gave considerable attention to Darwin’s ideas, but by the 1890s Wundt no longer accorded them much weight when it came to mental processes (see Richards 1980, 6–61).
- 2.
Evolutionary psychologists do claim James as a forbearer, but their use of James is highly selective. With some justification, they see their position anticipated by James’ chapter on instinct in The Principles of Psychology, but they fail to evaluate this chapter within the corpus of James’s writings. Failing to do so, they miss the central thrust of his perspective.
- 3.
Later in the century, Merleau-Ponty (1963) refers to such integrative, holistic, directed actions as “the body’s projects.”
- 4.
See also William James’s (1905) essay “The Place of Affectional Facts in a World of Pure Experience.”
- 5.
For an application of the concept of affordance to fitness landscapes, see Walsh (this volume).
- 6.
Hayek is far better known for his work in economics, which has drawn much public attention and notoriety of late. His interest in psychology began early in his career, and the principal link between his economic and psychological writings is a concern with the nature of complex systems (Weimer 1982; Beck 2009).
- 7.
For his account of perceiving, see Hayek (1952).
- 8.
Thanks to Gillian Barker who suggested this allusion.
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Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to Jonathan Barker and to the editors of this volume for their helpful comments on drafts of this chapter. I also thank Rob Wozniak for helpful conversations on nineteenth-century psychology.
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Heft, H. (2014). The Tension Between the Psychological and Ecological Sciences: Making Psychology More Ecological. In: Barker, G., Desjardins, E., Pearce, T. (eds) Entangled Life. History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7067-6_4
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