The Social Constitution of Perceiver-Environment Reciprocity

TLDR

Ecological psychology highlights animal–environment reciprocity, yet the active reshaping of environments through coordinated niche construction—especially in early humans where group settlements, stone tools, and migration favored species with psychological traits that preserved and built upon prior gains—underscores the role of sociocultural processes in evolution. Paleontological and archaeological evidence shows that human evolution must be understood through the lens of social niche construction.

Abstract

Although animal—environment reciprocity is central to ecological psychology, one facet of this viewpoint remains underappreciated: organisms alter environments so as to better function in them. In many species this activity of “niche construction” includes coordinated actions by individuals jointly working toward common ends. Mounting paleontological and archeological evidence indicates that human evolution should be viewed in the light of such social considerations. The environment of our immediate human ancestors was marked by, among other things, group settlements, manufactured stone tools, and extensive migration. An emerging species such as ours, whose distinctive psychological qualities offered a selective advantage relative to these conditions, would flourish particularly if it could preserve the gains of prior generations even as its members continued to transform econiche features in functionally significant ways. This evolutionary perspective, with its due recognition of sociocultural processes,...