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Two ecological approaches in social psychology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2026

Youngjae Cha ,
Maya Ingram Open the ORCID record for Maya Ingram [Opens in a new window]  and
Shigehiro Oishi Open the ORCID record for Shigehiro Oishi [Opens in a new window]
Youngjae Cha
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US yjcha@uchicago.edu mayaingram@uchicago.edu soishi@uchicago.edu https://psychology.uchicago.edu/directory/shigehiro-oishi
Maya Ingram
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US yjcha@uchicago.edu mayaingram@uchicago.edu soishi@uchicago.edu https://psychology.uchicago.edu/directory/shigehiro-oishi
Shigehiro Oishi*
Affiliation:
The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, US yjcha@uchicago.edu mayaingram@uchicago.edu soishi@uchicago.edu https://psychology.uchicago.edu/directory/shigehiro-oishi
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Ko and Neuberg’s affordance-management framework represents an important top-down approach to understanding how distal environments shape human psychology through evolutionarily recurrent problems. We contrast this evolutionary approach with the bottom-up socio-ecological approach, which focuses on current environmental arrangements, highlighting their complementary research strategies for understanding ecology–mind interactions.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e61
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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