The Routledge International Handbook of Ecological Psychology provides the definitive international reference for understanding how humans perceive and control goal-directed behavior in everyday environments. This authoritative volume examines the rapidly expanding field that bridges perception, action, and environmental interaction across diverse real-world contexts.
The handbook comprehensively surveys theoretical developments, empirical evidence, and practical applications spanning laboratory research and real-world practice. It explores behavioral dynamics across multiple scales, examining both affordances that create behavioral opportunities and the perceptual information that guides behavioral control. Key domains include child development, rehabilitation, sports performance, artistic expression, diversity studies, and technological innovation. The volume establishes fundamental ecological psychology concepts while showcasing cutting-edge research on lawful perceptual control of everyday actions. Additionally, it maps emerging trends and contemporary debates, positioning new developments against established findings and theories to demonstrate how innovative ideas are challenging traditional viewpoints and advancing the field's theoretical landscape.
This handbook serves researchers, graduate students, and academics working in ecological psychology, cognitive science, and related disciplines. It provides essential reference material for those seeking comprehensive understanding of current scholarship and emerging developments in this rapidly evolving field.
About the authors
Tetsushi Nonaka is Professor at Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, Japan. His research explores how humans learn to use affordances that shape everyday life. For his work on flexible action control in the body-environment system, he received the JSPS Prize in 2017.
Miguel Segundo-Ortin is a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Murcia, Spain. His research focuses on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, with a focus on embodied cognition, ecological psychology, agency, and, more recently, comparative psychology. He is associated with the Minimal Intelligence Laboratory (MINT Lab), where he investigates the cognitive capacities of plants from an empirically informed philosophical perspective.
Veronica Romero is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Colby College in Waterville, ME, USA. Her research focuses on interaction dynamics, specifically between dyads, in various situations. She is associated with the Davis institute for Artificial Intelligence at Colby College, where she completed a sabbatical fellowship in 2022-2023 during which her use of AI deepened. Her recent work is being funded through a National Science Foundation grant as part of the AI Research Institute on Interaction for AI Assistants (ARIA) between 2025 and 2030.
Jeffrey B. Wagman is a Professor of Psychology at Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA. His research focuses on perception of affordances and perception by touch. He is the recipient of the Illinois State University College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Lecturer Award, the Illinois State University Outstanding University Researcher Award, and a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for Ecological Psychology, and an Associate Editor of the journal of Ecological Psychology
