Editor's Introduction

Abstract

The articles in this issue offer fundamentally new conceptions of environment and behavior. Taken together, they provide a partial but provocative glimpse of certain general, theoretical directions of the environment and behavior field. The first portion of this article focuses on the unique contributions of the analyses contained in the present volume. Subsequently, seven general themes or directions suggested by these analyses are identified, namely, (1) a concern with molar units of environment and behavior, and with spatially and temporally extended patterns of person-environment transaction; (2) a tendency toward paradigm-merging, or the integration of concepts and methods from multiple research areas; (3) an emphasis on taxonomic, descriptive theory as a basis for identifying previously neglected facets of person-environment transaction; (4) increasing concern for the ecological validity of environment-behavior research; (5) increasing attention to the behavioral and health impacts of technological change; (6) a recognition of the limitations of personal-control formulations of environment, behavior, and well-being; and (7) increasing emphasis on the temporal context of environment and behavior and the ways in which people subjectively represent their past and anticipated environmental experiences.