The Descendants of a Model: Comments on Jahoda (1995)

Abstract

All contemporary thought, and much empirical work, clearly has historical roots; the eco-cultural model is no exception. However, it is argued that a tree is more than its roots. A brief outline is presented of the current version of the model, along with a description of its links with contemporary ecological anthropology and ecological psychology. The contemporary history (from 1966 to the present) of the evolution and uses of the model is recounted in the domains of perceptual, cognitive, social, developmental, biological and acculturation phenomena. It is concluded that the present conceptual and empirical status of the model, while falling well short of being a general theory, or of being fully operationalized, is clearly more than being an assembly of earlier insights, or having only heuristic value; it is claimed to be a sensible general framework for cross-cultural psychology, one that can serve as the basis for prediction and for empirical research.