ABSTRACT
The environmental docility hypothesis suggests that environmental stimuli (“press”, in Murray’s terms) have a greater demand quality as the competence of the individual decreases. The dynamics of ecological transactions are considered as a function of personal competence, strength of environmental press, the dual characteristics of the individual’s response (affective quality and adaptiveness of behavior), adaptation level, and the optimization function. Behavioral homeostasis is maintained by the individual as both respondent and initiator in interaction with his environment. Hypotheses are suggested to account for striving vs. relaxation and for changes in the individual’s level of personal competence. Four transactional types discussed are environmental engineering, rehabilitation and therapy, individual growth, and active change of the environment.
