People are not Lesser Snow Geese: On Typical Niches, Preferable Niches, and Failing Niche Construction

The biological notion of niche construction is used to conceptualize human-environment relations outside of the biological realm. If the relations between the environmental features and an organism are modified by organismic activity, we have an instance of niche construction. When the modifications are harmful to the organism, niche construction theory speaks of negative niche construction. When applied in biology, these concepts work well. However, when applied to human life, as is commonly done outside of the biological realm, it needs refinement, or so I argue. Current research seems to be insufficiently aware that we need to establish what the goals and abilities of the organism are, because niches are defined by the relevance and availability of the environmental features to the organism. To establish these, we have to use empirically informed generalizations to get to a notion of a typical organism, with typical goals and typical abilities. Such an organism will inhabit, maintain, or construct a typical niche, which may or may not be its preferable niche. For many organisms, typicality can basically be derived from biology, but establishing human goals and abilities is much harder. Recognizing the essential role of goals and abilities allows us to come to a clearer analysis of human niche construction, and the positivity or negativity niches cause for individuals who are typical, and for those whom are not.