The Concept of Nature

Abstract

For all the debate and philosophizing and frequently polemical argu- ment concerning nature and its relationship to man,l the concept of nature does not seem to have proved a very natural one for psychol- ogists. As noted in the introduction to this volume, the individual's response to the natural environment has not been at the forefront of problems chosen for psychological investigation-not even among en- vironmental psychologists. A perusal of the index of Psychological Ab- stracts reveals that Nature serves as an indexing term only in its adjectival form, and then only in reference to two very limited topics: Natural Childbirth (i.e., a process unaided by external intervention) and Natural Disasters. The prominent place of the latter as a subject of behavioral science research (though better represented within geography than psy- chology) may hark back to the historical fear of nature as a dangerous and potentially evil force in the affairs of man