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Explore the interrelationship between people and their physical environments, including sustainable behavior.
The four components of restorative environments according to the Kaplans
Reading short version (3 min)
Environmental psychology studies the transactions between people and their physical surroundings—how environments affect behavior and well-being, and how people perceive, use, and relate to their environments. This field addresses issues from room design to climate change behavior.
Key Theoretical Approaches:
Ecological Psychology (Barker): Behavior settings—stable patterns of behavior tied to physical settings.
Environmental Perception: How people perceive and evaluate environments.
Environmental Cognition: Mental representations of environments (cognitive maps).
Place Attachment: Emotional bonds with places.
Person-Environment Fit: Match between individual needs and environmental features.
Affordances (Gibson): Environment offers possibilities for action.
Transactional Approach: Person and environment are inseparable, mutually defining units.
Noise: - Unpredictable, uncontrollable noise most harmful - Effects: Impaired performance, learned helplessness, cardiovascular effects - Aftereffects persist even after noise ends
Crowding: - Crowding = psychological response to density - High density doesn't always cause distress - Personal control and social support moderate effects
Temperature and Air Quality: - Heat linked to aggression (curvilinear relationship) - Poor air quality affects mood and cognition
Light: - Natural light benefits mood and productivity - Seasonal Affective Disorder linked to light exposure
Pollution and Toxins: - Lead exposure affects cognitive development - Psychological effects of environmental contamination
Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan): - Mental fatigue from directed attention - Natural environments restore through 'soft fascination' - Four components: Being away, extent, fascination, compatibility
Stress Recovery Theory (Ulrich): - Nature exposure reduces physiological stress - Evolutionary preference for savanna-like environments
Biophilia Hypothesis (Wilson): - Innate affinity for nature and living things - Humans evolved in natural environments
Evidence for Nature Benefits: - Hospital patients with nature views recover faster - Workers with plants report less stress - Green exercise provides greater mood benefits - Urban green space linked to lower crime, better health
Barriers to Sustainable Behavior: - Psychological distance of climate change - Temporal discounting (future costs discounted) - Commons dilemmas (individual vs. collective interest) - Habit and convenience - Social norms favoring consumption
Theories of Pro-Environmental Behavior: - Value-Belief-Norm Theory: Values → Beliefs → Personal norms → Behavior - Theory of Planned Behavior: Attitudes, norms, perceived control → Intentions → Behavior - Identity-Based Motivation: Environmental identity drives behavior
Intervention Strategies: - Information and education (limited alone) - Social norms messaging - Commitment and goal-setting - Feedback on behavior - Incentives and disincentives - Defaults and choice architecture - Community-based social marketing
Defensible Space Theory (Newman): - Design can reduce crime - Territoriality, surveillance, image, milieu
Wayfinding: - Cognitive maps and spatial cognition - Signage and environmental legibility - Landmarks, paths, edges, districts, nodes
Workplace Design: - Open offices: Collaboration vs. distraction tradeoffs - Biophilic design: Incorporating nature - Personal control over environment
Healthcare Design: - Evidence-based design for healing - Single rooms, nature views, noise reduction - Patient control and privacy
Residential Satisfaction: - Privacy, safety, and aesthetics - Personalization and control - Neighborhood quality
Psychological Barriers to Climate Action: - Abstractness and distance (temporal, spatial, social) - Uncertainty and probability discounting - Motivated reasoning and denial - Finite pool of worry - System justification
Psychological Impacts of Climate Change: - Eco-anxiety and climate grief - Trauma from extreme weather events - Displacement and loss of place - Community and cultural impacts
Promoting Climate Action: - Making climate concrete and local - Emphasizing solutions and efficacy - Leveraging social identity and norms - Addressing psychological distance - Building hope without complacency
Two major theories of restorative environments.
| Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan) | Stress Recovery Theory (Ulrich) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Cognitive: Restores directed attention | Affective/Physiological: Reduces stress response |
| Problem Addressed | Mental fatigue from directed attention | Physiological stress |
| Key Process | Soft fascination allows attention to rest | Positive affect and parasympathetic activation |
| Evolutionary Basis | Less emphasized | Strongly emphasized (savanna preference) |
| Measurements | Attention tasks, self-report | Physiological measures, mood |
4 questions to test your understanding of this topic
Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice. Optimal Books (5th ed.).
Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View Through a Window May Influence Recovery from Surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420-421.
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Harvard University Press.
Steg, L., & Vlek, C. (2009). Encouraging Pro-Environmental Behaviour: An Integrative Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(3), 309-317.
Clayton, S., & Manning, C. (2018). Psychology and Climate Change: Human Perceptions, Impacts, and Responses. Academic Press.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. (2011). Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing. New Society Publishers (3rd ed.).
Evans, G. W. (2003). The Built Environment and Mental Health. Journal of Urban Health, 80(4), 536-555.
