ABSTRACT
Perhaps we may agree that “environment” serves its most useful function as a pointer word. That is to say, it shows the general direction to an area of research and theory-building but leaves the precise boundaries of this area and the details of its internal topography rather vague. Even the recent literature on “ecological” or “environmental” psychology forms no clear-cut exception, for definitions are usually framed within the limits of a particular tradition, say ecology, and are even then relatively vague (Ittelson, Proshansky, Rivlin, & Winkel 1974; Stokols, 1977).
