I think of this 'psychic' energy as being people's perceptual and effectual fields. Space that other humans can interact with. Growing up in a city, one expects the presence of multitudes of other fields. Being in the wilderness is a trip; it takes a long time for me to really believe I'm not in someone else's perceptual radius. It's hard to convince myself that I could yell at the top of my lungs and not cause alarm, even when in the middle of desert pan where I can see for miles in any direction.