The Place of Environmental Cognition in Psychology (or Vice Versa).

Generally, environmental cognition is concerned with understanding (1) people's perceptions of, representations of, and attitudes towards their own ecological niches, and (2) how these perceptions, cognitions, and attitudes develop over time. The scope and foci of environmental cognition are largely defined by its practitioners--investigators who come from diverse disciplines (e.g., psychology, geography, city planning) and who have diverse scientific and social agendae. In one sense environmental cognition is applied cognitive psychology; in another, it is applied social psychology; in a third sense cognitive and social psychology can be subsumed by environmental cognition. The major part of the presentation is concerned with the specification of a number of major conceptual and research issues which, when considered jointly, seem to differentiate environmental cognition from other subdisciplines of psychology. Current research germane to these issues is discussed briefly. (Author/SJL)