Latinamerican environmental psychology in the first decade of the millennium. A critical analysis

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of Latin American contributions to environmental psychology, based on work presented in the last six Intercamerican Congresses of Psychology which cover from 2001 to 2011. The review was organized according to number of presentations per congress and authors' countries of origin, type of work; thematic areas, types of processes, environments and subjects addressed; methodologies and methods employed; disciplines involved and reference to the ethical political dimension.

Analysis shows a sustained growth of the discipline, although different between countries and heterogeneous in the issues addressed, ways of approaching these and scope of the results. Results show a prevalence of empirical versus theoretical, methodological and applied work; research privileges individual against collective processes; emphasizes reactive versus active role of participants, and a wide variety of topics, environments, subjects and methods is addressed

Conclusions refer to the contributions and weaknesses of different nature derived from the review, and challenges faced by the discipline for increasing its theoretical and social relevance. A working agenda is suggested for discussing these challenges, which in addition includes the debate over unifying of diversifying Environmental Psychology, as well as its local or universal nature.