WHAT IS ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Ecological psychology comprises two fundamental complementary areas of study: perception and action, as introduced by the American psycholog ist, J.J. Gibson and the Russian physiologist, Nikolai A. Bernstein, r espectively. For Gibson perception is the direct pick-up of invariant information by which animals control their actions to reach environmen tal goals, not the passive registration of elementary sensations from which experiences are (unconsciously) inferred or computed. Where Gibs on rejects the computer metaphor in the study of perception, Bernstein rejects the executive metaphor in the study of action. Both views cha llenge psychology to develop a functionally integrated organism-enviro nment system, governed by laws, in the place of a psychology of intern al states or isolatable faculties, governed by rules. Here the smalles t unit of analysis is taken to be the perceiving-acting cycle situated in intentional contexts. The historical motivation of ecological psyc hology is reviewed and critically discussed.