Theoretical Approaches to the Analysis of Individual-Environment Interaction

Abstract

In the introductory chapter the dichotomy between internal and external determinants of behavior was discussed. Emphasis was placed on the interaction between internal and external determinants in terms of their interdependent character. Thus, the need for a focus on the internal and external units to be employed and on the processes involvedwhat in the organism interacts with what in the environment and how? In this chapter there will be a review of five models for analyzing the process of individual-environment interaction. The five models do not cover all such past efforts in the field. However, they are representative and cover drive (need), cognitive, and behavioral points of view. Indeed, one point of interest is the extent to which the models tend to focus on one or another set of variables to the exclusion of others, as if cognitive, behavioral, and affective activities occurred in isolation from one another. The five models vary in a number of ways: the extent to which they have been formalized or systematized, the extent to which they have evolved out of and have subsequently influenced interactional research, whether the conceptual roots are in psychology or in other fields, and the clarity with which they address the question of how.