Ecological theory describes the conceptualization
of an ecological approach to psychology, and how these
concepts apply to the understanding, intervention, and
assessment of human activity in sport and exercise. The
pioneers of the leading schools of ecological psychology
were James Gibson (1904 79), Roger Barker
(1903 91), Egon Brunswik (1903 56), and Urie
Bronfenbrenner (1917 2005). Brunswik and Lewin
each used the term in comments to the other’s work
from as early as 1941. As Barker and Brofenbrenner
worked closely with Kurt Lewin (1890 1947) in relation
to bio-ecological theory, and Gibson greatly
respected him, Lewin is credited for preparing the
ground for ecological psychology.
Although the ecological approach in sport psychology
primarily follows a Gibsonian perspective (see ecological
dynamics; Arau´jo & Davids, 2009 and the 2009
special issue of the International Journal of Sport
Psychology, for ecological approaches,), it belongs to a
family of theories that share common metatheoretical
assumptions connected to the ecological sciences. Heft
(2013) contrasted the ecological approach with other
metatheories that influenced 20th-century psychology:
1. Trait metatheory assumes the individual is a
bounded and self-contained entity. It attempts to
explain behavior with reference to the individual’s
dispositional properties. These intrinsic properties
operate autonomously and independently of environmental
circumstances.
2. Interactionist metatheory is the most influential
approach in sport psychology. The individual is
regarded as an independent system influenced by
other independent systems. Machine-like terms (e.g.,
computer metaphor, in the information processing
theory) are utilized to describe individuals, with
parts affecting other parts in a causal sequence.
Furthermore, built-in biological tendencies triggered
by the environment may direct behavior. Thus, the
source of state changes lies outside the individual’s
psychological domain.
3. Organismic metatheory also considers the individual
and the environment as separate. However, the individual
is an agent manipulating the environment and
the individual is influenced, modified by the interaction.
These actions are viewed as issuing from active
mental structures that stand apart from the environment,
even as they are transformed by engaging
with it (e.g., Piaget’s genetic epistemology, and, to
some extent, Freudian psychodynamic approaches).
4. Transactional metatheory adopts as its unit of analysis
the person-environment dynamic system. The
components of this system operate interdependently.
The ecological approach to sport psychology is
aligned with this metatheory. Individuals are goal directed
agents whose actions are ongoing, and the
form that their actions take is contingent on
situational factors that are typically changing.
Since performers are participants in a dynamic system,
each individual’s action continually needs to be
(re)adjusted with respect to changing circumstances.
This consideration of person-environment boundaries
suggests that psychological processes often
extend to incorporate aspects of the environment.
The literature is filled with references to environmental
properties that are objectively specified but lacking
in meaning (e.g., the composition of light), or meaningful
but difficult to ground in some measurable manner
(e.g., the meaning of a football match). The limitations
of each type of description derive from considering
environment-person relations as dichotomous. The Gibsonian ecological concept of affordances (i.e.,
action possibilities offered by the environment) cuts
across the objective-subjective distinction. Furthermore,
the psychological domain comprises environmental and
personal processes, and its meaningful properties are
therefore relational. Because performers experience the
environment relative to their body and skills, they are
attuned to affordances.
The ecological approach embraces that psychological
processes emerge within a network of influences where
individuals develop and function as participants. This
dynamic network collectively forms a psychological
system.
