Resumo

PINHEIRO, José Q.. Environmental Psychology, the search for a better environment. Estud. psicol. (Natal) [online]. 1997, vol.2, n.2, pp.377-398. ISSN 1413-294X.

Psychology should engage in the analysis of environmental problems, which are, in fact, human-environmental problems, aiming at their solution. To help accomplishing this goal, a brief historical account of Environmental Psychology is presented, emphasizing the theoretical and practical implications of its origins, internal and external to Psychology, with the environmental global crisis as background. Some developments of those sources within the Brazilian context are introduced to favor the integration of studies in the area of person-environment relationships. Some theoretical and methodological aspects are analyzed, especially in terms of the recent international tendency in Environmental Psychology to consider the human and social determination of the so called environmental crisis.

Palavras-chave : Environmental Psychology; person-environment relationships; environmental problems; multidisciplinarity.