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Ecological psychology (EP) is term claimed by two schools of psychology, one based on the writings of J. J. Gibson, the other on the work of Roger G. Barker, Herb Wright and associates at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. "The Midwest Psychological Field Station was established to facilitate the study of human behavior and its environment in situ by bringing to psychological science the kind of opportunity long available to biologists: easy access to phenomena of the science unaltered by the selection and preparation that occur in laboratories." (Barker, 1968). Thee study of environmental units (behavior settings) grew out of this research.
Gibson emphasises 'real world' studies of behaviour as opposed to the artificial environment of the laboratory. EP also rejects the information processing view of cognition.
Gibson rejected 'indirect' (cognitivist) perception, in favour of 'direct realism'.
Gibson argued that animals and humans stand in a 'systems' relation to the environment, such that, to fully explain some behaviour it was necessary to study the environment in which this behaviour took place. The aphorism: "It's not what is inside the head that is important, it's what the head is inside of", is supposed to capture that point.
Further Reading
Roger G. Barker (1968) "Ecological Psychology" Stanford University Press
Roger G. Barker and Phil Schoggen "Qualities of Community Life", (1973) Jossey-Bass Inc.
J.J. Gibson (1979) The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. (ISBN 0898599598)
Harry Heft (2001) Ecological Psychology in Context: James Gibson, Roger Barker, and the Legacy of William James Radical Empiricism", Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Phil Schoggen "Behavior Settings: a revision and extensin of Roger G.Baeker's Ecological Psychology" (1989) Stanford University Press.
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