The whole idea of ecological psychology got me wondering about a lot of things. Can it explain better why a bar makes a person feel more like drinking (or why I drool when I walk up to a bar--or is that a simple Pavlovian thing)? What does it say about my hatred of blaring TVs? What does it say about my hatred of ubiquitous TV, from every waiting room to ever car (how long until they're in bathroom stalls?). Does a smoky-smelling room make a person feel like smoking? Does a bedroom . . . nevermind.
So I did some searching. Wikipedia has a good introduction (at least, it told me a lot, and I'm a novice). Also see. Excerpt:
In his classic work "Ecological Psychology" (1968) [Roger G. Barker] argued that human behaviour was radically situated: in other words, you couldn't make predictions about human behaviour unless you know what situation or context or environment the human in question was in. For example, there are certain behaviours appropriate to being in Church, attending a lecture, working in a factory etc, and the behaviour or people in these environments is more similar than the behaviour of an individual person in different environments.
I found some other stuff, but nothing really worth pasting here. The whole concept fascinates me. Of course, as I delve into it, I'll probably find out that it's the crux of Wiccan theology or modern Catholic liturgists who want everyone to worship in a doughnut-like building. Everything new (and ecological psychology is new--late 1960s, perhaps as early as 1940s) is fodder for the groundless, and most nuts are groundless. Still, this new thing seems to hold a lot of promise for exploration.
If anyone can recommend an essay or short book or two, the email link is on the left.
