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Enviromental psychology - Lecture notes, pictures included
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Environmental PsychologyLecture 1: Setting the scene
“Environmental Psychology is that area of psychology which brings into conjunction and analyzes the transactions
and interrelationships of human experiences and actions with pertinent aspects of the socio-physical surroundings.”
(Canter & Craik, 1981)
“Environmental psychology examines transactions between individuals and their built and natural environments.”
(Gifford, 2014)
Course focus
1. The person in the environment (what does the environment does to the person?)
a. Attention to theories, methods, and research designs that take the physical environment into account.
b. Explicit attention to the way thoughts, feelings, and (social) behavior are caused, influenced, or
moderated by characteristics of the physical environment - and the other way around. The
environment does also do something for us.
2. Reciprocal relations between persons and environments
a. How does a person influence the environment? Can we read an person out of their environment
(room)
b. We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.”
People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years (Ellis et al. 2021) Building
houses, cutting the forest, being there, catching animals all lead to changes in the environment. We
even change the space where we implement big satellites.
Also, how you build your city (lot of concrete, nature, high-rise) can have an influence on your outlook on
live. People have to keep in mind what is important for the city (high live, fast rewards) when building it.
3. The interactions has a social origin and meaning of (many) man-environment interactions
a. Home, school, neighborhood, work, prison, park: all describe physically defined environments with a
clearly social character
b. Green vs. grey schoolyards “Het groene schoolplein”
i. Greater well-being of children
ii. Higher appreciation of the schoolyard
iii. Less bullying
iv. Better concentration levels for boys
c. Littering is a big problem The effect of eyes and relocating trash cans. The combination of taking
away the trashcans and the eye’s works best. Only leaving the trashcans out increased the littering
and only eyes have a small effect but not-significant. The point: behavioral changes has to be
combined with psychological changes.
4. Opportunities to change for the better
a. Greater well-being and improved environmental quality by behavioral interventions
b. Change is possible: local, national and international
Environmental problems
An extremely complex and far-reaching problem. The greenhouse effect is generally considered one of the largest
environmental problems globally. The human greenhouse effect is the biggest problem on earth.
Paris agreement – Global initiatives
o “The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196
Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016.”
o “Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-
industrial levels.”
o “To achieve this long-term temperature goal, countries aim to reach global peaking of greenhouse gas
emissions as soon as possible to achieve a climate neutral world by mid-century.”
o How are we doing on this? Not so good.
,Functions of Environmental Psychology
- Scientific progress: include the environment in the psychology
- Many societal important applications (small or big level)
- Career perspectives:
o Researcher (basic or applied)
o Consultant
o Environmental policy maker
o Environmental management
Environmental psychology at SEO
- Numerous researchprojects for:
o Municipality of Leiden, Ministries, Environmental organizations, European Union
- Examples of research questions:
o How can we encourage people to make the energy transition?
o What hinders and motivates people to green their garden?
o What do people think of CO2 capture and storage?
o What are the climate adaptation effects of the Singelpark?
o How can we increase youth participation with regard to sustainability issues?
o What intervention could lead to less littering in parks?
Wohlwill, J. F. (1970): The emerging discipline of environmental psychology
Main issues
- Environmental psychology is a response to concerns about quality of the environment (e.g.,1968 Limits to
growth, Club of Rome)
- Environmental psychology is problem oriented, applied, inclined to cooperate in multidisciplinary projects
- Environmental psychology has unique potential to ask new questions.
Three forms of relationship between person and physical environment:
1. Environment guides and constrains behavior: Barriers, compatibility, ‘fit’; environment is instrumental in a lot
of things that we have in psychology.
2. Long term exposure to general conditions may exert generalized effects: E.g., urban life style as a function of
crowding. Growing up in the city makes you a different person than a person who grow up in a village.
Working day rhythm as function of climate; times schedule in Spain vs. Netherlands (siesta)
3. Behavior is oriented toward environment; environment is focal
Motivation by environment stimuli
1. Affect evoked by stimulus characteristics (e.g., complexity, diversity, novelty, category)
2. Environment determines approach and avoidance reactions (moving, migrating, holiday destinations)
3. Adaptation (“man is at once a seeker and neutralizer of stimulation”); adapt yourself to the environment
Not discussed but important to mention
- Individual differences in, e.g., sensation seeking, environmental concern, etc.
- Attitude formation and attitude change regarding environmental problems
- Problems that seem environmental but are primarily social, economic, educational (slums, ghetto’s)
Goldberg, T. (1969) The automobile. A social institution for adolescents.
Premises
- Designers like to think about the relation between physical form and social behavior
- These insights are based on intuitions rather than on science
- These insights are often wrong, because:
o Intuition hardly works
o The scientific approach is shallow (misses in depth understanding of social processes)
Study
- Analysis specific environmental problem (Traffic jams) caused by conflicting sociocultural forces
, - Demonstrates relationships between sociocultural, behavioral, and physical environment
- Problem description:
o Adolescents have nowhere to go
o They like cars
o Therefore: They take the road for social gatherings (“cruising,” “dragging the main,” “making the
strip”)
o Their problem solving creates problems for others: blocking of roads, creating unsafety, noise
annoyance
The issue more in depth
- Social interaction and adolescence
o Characterized by (1) peer group influences, (2) sexual activity, and (3) rivalry
meeting place should be a “full blown social arena” (p. 160)
o Adolescent’s love cars (1966 statistics!)
o Cars are suitable for competition (more easily than sports or intellectual achievements) and have
sexual symbolism
Observations: Cruising has strict codes
Men
- Often drive alone (sometimes in pairs)
- Aspire to have expensively altered, “hot”, cars
- Are to be found in places best suited for display
- Have windows rolled down (-> calling to girls)
Women
- Do not drive alone
- When in pairs they are open to a date
- When with three they are not open to a date (out to tease)
- Have windows initially closed (control)
Initial outcomes of the study (descriptive)
- All activity takes place in or near the car
- Cruisers maximize visibility (driving and parking)
- Cruising is self-sustaining, no need for other amusement facilities (just needs road, parking places, light)
Goldberg’s unfulfilled promise
- How to solve problems (for others mainly) after having properly analyzed phenomenon
- Promised publication never appeared (!)
Take home message of this article: how do you do this kind of research: observe in an scientific way, look at what
people do, how they do it and how they use the environment to solve their problem and how the environment
determines how the problem is solved.
Kaplan, S. (1995) The restorative benefits of nature: Toward an integrative framework
Attention Restoration Theory: how can I recover of being tired of directed attention.
- Directed attention: pulling away other inhibiting stimuli and focus on one object.
- Consequences of fatigue
- Restoration
Directed attention requires capacity for inhibition of distraction (inhibitory mechanism). When efforts to sustain
directed attention are prolonged the inhibitory mechanism becomes exhausted. The directed attention can be depleted.
ART: Consequences of attentional fatigue
- Poor concentration
- Easily irritated
- Inclined to make errors
- Unwilling to help others
Then there will be a psychological need for restoration
, “Psycho-environmental” characteristics of restorative environments
1. Being away
a. Disconnection from daily activities
2. Fascination
a. Something that really interests you
3. Compatibility
a. Match between what you like to do and the environment provides; not everyone likes a walk in the
mountains, it really needs to match what you like
4. Extent
a. Needs to have an impression of continuity
Restorative environments: Hartig & Staats
Research design
Swedish student participants (N = 103). Design 2 (Urban vs. nature) x 2 (rested vs. fatigued) between subjects.
Attentional fatigue induction with a long lecture (1.5 to 3 hours). Series of 50 slides as environmental stimulation of
urban/nature walks
The participants were shown a picture of the forest and a picture of the city. In rested and fatigued condition people
preferred the nature over urban. Nature is more restorative for attentional recovery than urban environments.
Gosling et al. (2002) A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms
General research question: Can we deduce personality from the
interior of a room?
Framework = Brunswick’s lens model
- The lens is built up out of a couple of cues
o Organized desk
o Good lightning
o Cheerful décor
o Books
- Cue validity: You want to know how conscientiousness the
person is: Is the organized desk a valid cue for this? Good
lightning and an organized desks are valid cues for the
personality construct of conscientiousness
- Cue utilization: How are the cues used by the observer,
how the correspond and how correct are they?
the observer uses the organized desk as an indicator of conscientiousness.
Self directed identity claims: something that you
remind yourself of your identity
Other-directed identity claims: to show others
what is part of your identity
Interior behavioral residue: show your activities
in your home
Exterior behavioral residue: show your behavior
outside.
Research questions
- Do observers agree on personality ratings based on occupants’ personal environments?
- Which environmental cues are being used, and which are valid?
- Are observer ratings accurate?
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