Viktor I. Panov

Background. The anthropogenic pressure on the natural and social environment increases the ecopsychological research. On the eve of the 110th anniversary of the RAO Psychological Institute, it is important to conduct a historical and theoretical analysis of the development of an ecopsychological approach to the development of the psyche, indicating the importance of such prominent scientists of this institution as V.V. Davydov, G.A. Kovalev, A.I. Mirakyan, F.T. Mikhailov, etc. 

Objective. To describe the methodological prerequisites, theoretical constructs and stages ecopsychological approach to the development of the psyche being. 

Methods. Historical and theoretical analysis of the methodological prerequisites, theoretical constructs and stages ecopsychological approach to the development of the psyche being. 

Results. There are three stages in the formation of ecopsychological approach to the development of the psyche. First stage — academic topics “Ecology of childhood” and “Gifted student”. The second stage was devoted to the development of the main theoretical constructs, including the idea of the psyche as a form of being, relationship “individual — environment”, the ecopsychological typology of subject-environmental interactions, and the ecopsychological model of the formation of agency. The third stage — paradigmatic analysis of the definition of the psyche as an object of research within the framework of epistemological, ontological and transcendental paradigms. Four forms of existence are distinguished psyche as an object of study: become, alienated, generated and virtual. 

Conclusion. The obtained results suggest that in the future such an approach will make it possible to study the emergence of not only individual mental phenomena, but also ways of thinking that determine one or another scientific paradigm, not only in psychology, but also in the natural sciences.

<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>