Developmental and Environmental Psychology

Abstract

Toward exemplifying some relationships between developmental and environmental psychology, the problem of transition and adaptation to junior high school is examined microgenetically. Adaptation to a large junior high school is assessed by use of (a) a psychological distance map (PDM) for People (representing people important to the subject) and (b) a rating scale assessing adaptation prior to and following transition of two groups of students, one from a small and the other from a large elementary school. There was a significant correlation between the number of persons from the new environment mentioned on the PDM and those mentioned on the ratio scale. Although the number of students mentioned on the PDM and those mentioned from the new environment increased, those from the old environment decreased. Further, whereas the number of persons entered on the PDM increased immediately for the students from the large elementary school, the increment was slower for students from the small elementary school. The findings are discussed in terms of a microgenetic developmental viewpoint and the general relationship between developmental and environmental psychology.