Developmental Eco-Psychology: From Environmental Psychology to the Eco-Psychological Paradigm of Mental Development

Aim. To present the history, theoretical and methodological evolution, and key achievements of eco-psychology as a new paradigmatic field in Russian psychology.

Methodology. This paper is based on a historical, scientific, and theoretical-methodological analysis of the development of eco-psychology since the early 1990s. The key stages of the approach’s transformation from “environmental psychology” to “ecological psychology of mental development” are systematized, as well as key concepts and empirical research areas.

Results. The article explores the evolution of this approach from analyzing the physical and social environment as a context to understanding the psyche as an open system, emerging and developing through interaction within the “subject-environment” system. Emerging in the early 1990s on the initiative of G. A. Kovalev as environmental psychology, the field was radically transformed by V. I. Panov into the eco-psychology of mental development. Key theoretical achievements such as the development of a concept for eco-psychological types of interaction (from object-object to subject-joint) and a model for the stages of subjectivity development are highlighted. Psycho-diagnostic methods developed within this approach are described, and key empirical areas such as the study of the mechanisms of subject-environment interactions, environmental awareness and behavior, and the design of developmental environments are characterized. The interdisciplinary nature and broad geography of contemporary research within the eco-psychological paradigm are emphasized.

Research implications. The theoretical value of this work lies in its systematization of the paradigmatic development of Russian eco-psychology and its expanded understanding of the psyche as a system co-evolving with the environment. Practical significance stems from the availability of specific tools for psychodiagnostics and the design of developmental environments, as well as the identification of promising areas for applied research in education, ecology, and social design.

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