ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with sensory deprivation, a condition of maximum environmental artificiality combined with maximum freedom of the investigator to experimentally manipulate both the environment and subjects. It focuses on almost 15 years of research concerned with individual behavior in the isolation of Antarctica. The book presents a detailed consideration of a most unique field research situation—the Sealab and Tektite projects, where the small group is under direct observation while in meaningful real-world isolation. It provides an interesting and cogent extension of Dr. Altman's theoretical position. The book focuses on problems of individual and group isolation and confinement from different prespectives. Although man has lived and worked under conditions of isolation and confinement for many centuries, only recently has there been any major, sustained, scientific interest in problems of human adjustment to such conditions.
