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Cited by 39Embodied and Extended CognitionAcademic and Historical Perspectives in PsychologyVisual perception and processing mechanisms

A Ten Commandments for Ecological Psychology

Michaels, Claire F., Palatinus, Zsolt·2015·The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition
DOI 10.4324/9781315775845.ch2
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Abstract

The ecological approach to perception and action evolved in the 1950s and 1960s, and major principles had been outlined by the time of the publication of J. J. Gibson’s The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems in 1966: ecological optics, invariants, exploration, direct perception, affordances, the education of attention, and the intimacies of perception and action, and of organism and environment, to name a few. In the intervening half century, these concepts have been experimented on and elaborated, and three new, related emphases have gained prominence: a concern with the coordination of action, adoption of the dynamical systems perspective, and embrace of what has been termed physical psychology, the attempt to make psychology continuous with physical science. Ecological psychology is arguably the original embedded, embodied cognition, so as the field that bears those names moves forward, the ecological approach should remain a valuable touchstone for evaluating principles, concepts, and theories. In this chapter, we express the various historical and modern threads of ecological psychologyas ten commandments. Obviously there are no “official” ten commandments that serve as the final authority for evaluating constructs or tools. The ones here are the result of a self-imposed intellectual exercise. It is with mixed feelings that we adopt the label “ten commandments.” The danger is that it will bolster the view held by some that ecological psychologists-Gibsoniansare more like religious fanatics than the conservative, open-minded scientists that we are. We brave that danger to make the point that just as observant Jews and Christians ought not pick and choose which Commandments they follow, advocates of ecological psychology (or of genuinely embedded and embodied cognitive science) should see our commandments as a package deal. Some psychologists select their principles and concepts cafeteria-style, adopting ideas they like and leaving others behind, and even declare that being eclectic is a virtue. Unfortunately, the major principles of ecological psychology are deeply connected and intertwined. To subscribe to some and discard the others always entails contradiction. There are two more preliminaries before the enumeration begins. First, note that the chapteris global and intuitive, rather than detailed and precise. It would take several hundred pages to include details, cite relevant research, and identify variations on themes. Second, we will use the outfielder problem to illustrate various ideas, so we start with presenting the problem, which also can serve as a quick diagnostic test of how ecological one is.

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  • Some prominent ecological psychologists have presented their approach as a principled, unified package deal on perception and action.

    “Indeed, some prominent ecological psychologists have presented their approach as a "package deal"-a principled and unified perspective on perception and action.”

    From Productive pluralism: The coming of age of ecological psychology. (2024) · cites this paper as Michaels & Palatinus, 2014

  • Some prominent advocates have presented ecological psychology as a package deal comprising the concepts one ought to employ, the explanatory scheme one ought to adhere to, and the philosophical views one ought to hold.

    “Some prominent advocates have presented ecological psychology as a “package deal” comprising of the concepts one ought to employ, the explanatory scheme to which one ought to adhere and the philosophical views one ought to hold (Michaels & Palatinus, 2014;Richardson et al., 2008;Turvey, 1990aTurvey, , 1990b)).”

    From Productive pluralism: The coming of age of ecological psychology. (2024) · cites this paper as Michaels & Palatinus, 2014

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Authors
Michaels, C. F., & Palatinus, Z.
ORCID
Palatinus, Zsolt
Venue
The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition
Publisher
Routledge
Published
2015-02-17
DOI
10.4324/9781315775845.ch2
OpenAlex
W2499088909
Cited by
39
References
12
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
FWCI
3.52
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Routledge eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Embodied and Extended Cognition
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › General Psychology › Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Keywords
ecological psychology, affordances, direct perception, ecological optics, invariants, exploration, action coordination, embodied cognition, embedded cognition

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