The History of Development and Basic Concepts of Ecological Psychology

Abstract

<p><b>Abstract</b></p>
<p><b>Background.</b> The current level of institutionalization and theoretical development of ecological psychology in Russia makes a simple description of its ideas evolution insufficient. Critical reflection on the process of scientific knowledge development itself has become paramount. The discussion agenda of the 10th Russian (International) Conference on Ecological Psychology (October 2025) highlighted the need for a historical and methodological review of its current approaches. Therefore, retrospective analysis is no longer a tribute to tradition, but a tool for identifying continuity and vectors for further development, necessitating a review of the genesis of modern directions in ecological psychology.</p>
<p><b>Objective.</b> To conduct an analysis of the basic concepts and history of the emergence of areas in ecological psychology, using the Ecopsychological Typology of Agent-Environment Interactions as a theoretical basis.</p>
<p><b>Methods.</b> Theoretical and methodological analysis, typological analysis, comparative historical analysis of domestic and foreign scientific publications, monographs, collections of papers, and conference materials.</p>
<p><b>Results.</b> The study provides an analysis of the term "ecological psychology" in Russian psychological literature, demonstrating its ambiguity as a result of different translations of the English terms "Ecological Psychology," "Environmental Psychology," "Psychological Ecology," "The Ecology of Human Development", etc. Historically, environmental psychology emerged in international psychology as a specific stage in the development of behavioral and gestalt approaches in psychological science and practice. It was only in the final decades of the last century that environmental psychology began to embrace topics directly addressing the global ecological problems.</p>
<p><b>Conclusions.</b> Despite obvious differences in the subject matter and conceptual apparatus of the areas of domestic ecological psychology, they are united by a common methodological premise—the use of the "person-environment" relationship as a methodological basis. Differences in these fields of ecological psychology are determined by the type of ecopsychological agent-environment interactions (our term) that underlies the research.</p>

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