Bonnes and Nenci clarify ecological psychology by distinguishing Barker’s first ecological psychology from the later environmental psychology of sustainable development. The iconic idea is that behaviour and psychological process must be studied in naturally occurring settings rather than in abstracted laboratory isolation. Its theoretical contribution is genealogical: it positions behaviour settings, ecological validity, place, environmental concern and pro-environmental action within a continuous transformation from everyday-context psychology to sustainability-oriented environmental psychology. Methodologically, the chapter functions as a synthetic disciplinary map, explaining how Barker’s field station, Gibsonian perception, spatial-physical settings and ecological awareness become linked research traditions. Its conceptual operation is contextual grounding: the environment becomes a constitutive condition of behaviour, not an external variable. The bridge to the wider field connects psychology, environmental studies, human geography, sustainability research and person-environment theory.
