Human populations respond to the challenges arising from the natural environment by modifying their world through the process of niche construction (Kashima et al., 2019; Laland et al., 2000). The human‐made niche then becomes the environment to which humans have to adapt, which includes not only the built environment and physical artefacts, but also social, economic, and political environments. After three and a half centuries of fossil‐fuel‐based niche construction since the start of the First Industrial Revolution, human industrialization and global expansion have gone very far in the 21st century CE. So much so, that the ongoing human activities are now threatening to irreversibly alter the biophysical processes that have maintained the Holocene Optimum, the planetary climate optimally suitable for human thriving. By now, humanity has become a dominant force in shaping the planetary ecosystem, even to the point where some have proposed that the current geological epoch should be renamed the Anthropocene (for brief discussions, see Kashima, 2020; Kashima, O’Brien et al., 2021).

Despite—or perhaps because of—the significance of these human activities, numerous challenges arise for humanity from the complex interplay within the planetary social‐ecological system in which globalized humanity participates. The COVID‐19 pandemic is an obvious example. Although numerous pathogenic microbes pass from non‐human species to humans, thanks to voluminous and rapid human global mobility, there are greater chances of them spreading around the world than before. Not only microbial challenges, but macro‐level extreme weather events such as super typhoons can threaten human populations thanks to the ongoing climate change. To many more challenges that are likely to come our way, humanity will have to respond by reconstructing our niche, using the material and energies available, and configuring and reconfiguring the human‐made environment—that which we humans create and recreate in our daily activities.

Then, how do and should we construct and reconfigure our niche to meet the challenges of the 21st century? These questions set a perspective from which to critically reflect on social psychology today.

人口通过利基建筑过程改变世界来应对自然环境带来的挑战（Kashima等人，2019年; Laland等人，2000年））。人造利基成为人类必须适应的环境，不仅包括建筑环境和自然制品，还包括社会，经济和政治环境。自第一次工业革命以来，经过三个半世纪的以化石燃料为基础的利基建设，人类的工业化和全球扩张在公元21世纪已走得很远。如此之多，以至于正在进行的人类活动正威胁着不可逆转地改变维持全新世最适的生物物理过程，而全新世最适合人类繁衍。到现在，人类已经成为塑造行星生态系统的主导力量，甚至到有人提议将当前的地质时代更名为人类世（对于简短的讨论，2020 ; O'Brien等人，Kashima，2021年）。

尽管（或也许由于）这些人类活动的重要性，但全球化的人类参与其中的星球社会生态系统内部复杂的相互作用给人类带来了许多挑战。COVID-19大流行就是一个明显的例子。尽管无数致病微生物从非人类物种传给人类，但由于人类迅速而广泛的全球迁移，它们在世界范围内传播的机会比以前更大。由于持续的气候变化，不仅微生物挑战，而且宏观水平的极端天气事件（如超级台风）都可能威胁到人类。为了应对可能遇到的更多挑战，人类将不得不通过利用可用的材料和能量来重建我们的利基市场做出回应，

那么，我们该如何以及应该如何构建和重新配置我们的利基市场来应对21世纪的挑战？这些问题为当今社会心理学的批判性反思奠定了基础。