Behavior Settings: A Revision and Extension of Roger G. Barker's "Ecological Psychology"

Behavior setting theory argues that the relevant environment of human molar behavior consists of extra-individual, time-space bounded units—behavior settings—that persist when particular participants change . A behavior setting is defined structurally as one or more standing patterns of behavior-and-milieu, where the milieu is circumjacent (surrounding) and synomorphic (structurally similar) to the behavior . It rejects the assumption that behavior is best explained by individual differences alone, insisting that standing patterns of behavior have characteristics persisting independently of the individuals involved. Barker explicitly criticized the strict separation between sciences of physical things and sciences of human action, arguing behavior settings are phenomena with both physical and behavioral attributes .

On the structural side, a behavior setting consists of one or more standing patterns of behavior-and-milieu, with the milieu circumjacent and synomorphic to the behavior . On the dynamic side, the behavior-milieu parts—synomorphs—have a specified degree of interdependence among themselves that is greater than their interdependence with parts of other behavior settings . Barker's structural test determines which potential settings are synomorphs; the K-21 internal dynamic test assesses interdependence between pairs of synomorphs across seven facets: behavioral, population, leadership, spatial, time, behavioral objects, and behavior mechanisms .

Staffing theory, developed from Barker and Gump's Big School, Small School research, explores the effects of filling essential roles in a behavior setting . Understaffed settings put more pressure on participants to enroll in the setting program and its maintenance mechanisms, with participants more likely to take leadership positions and responsibility . Overstaffed settings reduce individual responsibility and participation. Wicker's 1969 study of five Methodist churches found that small church members participated in more kinds of activities, held more leadership positions, spent more time in activities, and contributed more money than members of a large church, supporting Barker's theory .

A rejoinder to Schoggen defends several alternative interpretations, arguing the incommensurateness of person and environment is most usefully understood as a dialectical problem, valid in some respects but not others . The critique questions whether settings are better understood as pre-existing contours in the stream of behavior or as tools constantly invented and reinvented by humans to meet specific needs—a question that is not either/or . The Big School, Small School findings are open to multiple interpretations. This debate reflects broader tensions about whether behavior setting theory adequately accounts for human agency and intentionality in shaping environments.

Behavior setting theory was applied in thirteen empirical papers in health research, evaluating or shifting environments for healthier living . Topics included structural changes for clean water use, substance abuse correlated with environmental conditions, mental health in social settings, and restorativeness. Gibson and Werner's airport waiting area studies applied the theory to smoking regulation compliance, finding ambiguous areas had significantly more smokers than clearly defined no-smoking areas, and that legibility cues communicated the setting program in the absence of setting leaders . These applications demonstrate the theory's utility for understanding how environmental design regulates behavior.

Schoggen's revision and extension was published by Stanford University Press in 1989 as a 419-page volume . Barker's original Ecological Psychology was published in 1968 and cited over 305 times by 1980 . Schoggen's primary goal was to provide an up-to-date comprehensive description of behavior setting theory and method with sufficient detail to guide new research applications . Barker's theory and method are preserved except where changes reflect advances in Barker and Schoggen's Qualities of Community Life (1973). The lengthy report of Midwest findings was replaced by summaries of research applications, with four new chapters added .