Environmental Psychology

Abstract

Environmental psychology is the study of transactions between individuals and their physical settings (Gifford, 2007a). In these transactions, individuals change their environments, and their behavior and experiences are changed by their environments. It includes theory, research, and practice aimed at making the built environment more humane and improving human relations with the natural environment. Considering the enormous investment society makes in the physical environment (including buildings, parks, streets, the atmosphere, and water) and the huge cost of misusing nature and natural resources, environmental psychology is a key component of both human and environmental welfare.Environmental psychologists work at three levels of analysis: (a) fundamental psychological processes like perception of the environment, spatial cognition, and personality as they filter and structure human experience and behavior, (b) the management of social space: personal space, territoriality, crowding, and privacy, and the physical setting aspects of complex everyday behaviors, such as working, learning, living in a residence and community, and (c) human interactions with nature and the role of psychology in climate change (e.g., Gifford, 2008a).The history of environmental psychology has been reviewed elsewhere (see Bechtel & Churchman, 2002, Bell, Greene, Fisher, & Baum, 2001, and Gifford, 2007a. But, for perspective, we note that early 20th century psychologists studied the effect of noise (United States) and heat (England) on work performance, while scholars in Germany and Japan explored concepts and moral philosophy related to environmental psychology. By mid-century, environmental psychology was a clearly established discipline with work on topics such as sensory isolation, personal space, and building design. Journals devoted to the field were established; the most prominent of these are the Journal of Environmental Psychology and Environment and Behavior.

The Influence of Contextual and Psychosocial Factors on Handwashing

“…Environmental psychologists have highlighted the importance of transactions between individuals and their physical settings. 13,14 In these transactions, individuals change their environment and in return, their behavior is determined by this self-created context. We thus distinguished between relatively fixed contextual factors and self-created contextual factors.…”

Green Positive Guidance and Green Positive Life Counseling for Decent Work and Decent Lives: Some Empirical Results

“…Regarding environmental issues, there is a growing literature on ecological dimension of intelligence in terms of social development and cognitive patterns of human development (Gifford et al, 2011; Salahodjaev, 2016). A recent study (Salahodjaev, 2016) offers for example new statistical evidences of a negative link between intelligence and deforestation.…”

“…Individuals consider a “premium green” paying attention to environment al concerns, and willing to make changes in their lives in order to protect the environment (Fergnsen, 1993). Moreover in an environmental psychology perspective environmental issues as for example energy conservation, recycling, fresh water, and pollution are considered everyday commons dilemmas and intelligence and other personal characteristics have to take into consideration to resolve them (Gifford et al, 2011). On the other side, regarding personality, in previous studies a relation between personality traits and connectedness to nature emerged (Hirsh and Dolderman, 2007; Nisbet et al, 2008; Hirsh, 2010), showing in particular associations with agreeableness and openness.…”

Contextual Effects on Crowding Perception: An Analysis of Antwerp and Amsterdam

“…Within a recreational context, people showed a lower tolerance for conflicting activities (Manning 1999;Cessford 2003;Arnberger & Haider 2007). This is similarly apparent in urban conflicts between car users, cyclists, and pedestrians, because of asymmetries in transportation modes, leading Gifford et al (2011) to suggest behavioural zoning as crowding-alleviation strategy). As such, this relationship combines characteristics of others and individual characteristics of the observer; behaviour that does not coincide with one's own norms and values might result in conflicts and irritation (Westover 1989;Bryon 2005).…”