Environmental Psychology

James Neill, 2008

University of Canberra
 Overview
■ What is Environmental Psychology?
■ Negative Environmental Influences
■ Environmental Design
■ Natural Environment
■ Evolutionary Psychology
■ Biophilia

2
 What is Environmental
Psychology?
"Environmental psychology
studies the interactions and
relations between people
and their environments."
(Oskamp & Schultz, 1998, p.
206)
3
 What is
Environmental
Psychology?

4
 Scope
Environmental psychology is also
known as, or closely related to:
◆ environmental social sciences
◆ architectural psychology
◆ socio-architecture
◆ ecological psychology
◆ ecopsychology
◆ behavioural geography
◆ environment-behavior studies
◆ person-environment studies
◆ environmental sociology
◆ social ecology
◆ environmental design research
5
 Environment  Humans
"Traditionally...environmental
psychology has emphasized how the
physical environment affects human
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
However, much recent
environmental research has
stressed the other side of the coin -
how human actions affect the
environment."
(Oskamp & Schultz, 1998, p. 206) 6
 Environment  Humans
“Ecological issues of people's
relationship to their environment,
both natural and human-made,
have assumed crucial importance
to our quality of life, and even to
the survival capacity of humanity.”
(Oskamp & Schultz, 1998)

7
Environmental Psychology...

■ Is a reasonably new 'discipline'

■ Grew out of social psychology
■ Has evolved in its own directions
■ Is interdisciplinary, e.g., related to
anthropology, architecture, urban
planning, politics, sociology

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 Interest Groups

Psychology & the Environment

APS Interest Group
http://www.groups.psychology.org.au/peig/

Population & Environmental

Psychology
APA Division 34
http://apa34.cos.ucf.edu/
9
 Negative
Environmental Influences
1. Human spatial behavior
2. Environmental stressors
3. Environmental risks
4. Environmental design
5. Complex relations b/w physical
stressors and people's mental and emotional
adjustment to it (e.g., control)

10
 Human spatial behaviour:
Density and Crowding
◆ Density = # of people per space
◆ Crowding = subjective -ve experiences due to
density
“some of the negative impacts of
crowding can be reduced if
people feel that they have some
control over their crowded
conditions”
(Oskamp & Schultz, 1998, p. 206)
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Human spatial behaviour:
Density and Crowding

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 Environmental Stressors
Environmental conditions
that interfere with optimal
human functioning include:
■ Crowding
■ Daily hassles & life events
■ Noise
■ Temperature

13
 Environmental Risks
Risk perception studies e.g., of:
■ Natural disasters
■ Diseases
■ Pollution
■ Food contamination
■ Accidents
■ Nuclear power
■ Terrorism
14
 Environmental Risks
■ We tend to perceive as most
risky, environmental variables
we “can't” control e.g., predator
attacks as opposed to risks we
perceive that we can control
e.g., driving.

15
 Environmental Design

■ Assessing & planning: Describing &

predicting human behaviour for artificial designs
■ Architectural
psychology
■ Consumer psychology: e.g.,
Shopping Mall Design
■ Permaculture
■ Wayfinding

16
 Environmental
“We shape our Design
buildings
and our buildings
shape us”
- Churchill

17
 Natural Environment
1.Preference
2.Evolutionary Psychology
3.Biophilia Hypothesis
4.Nature's Psychological Effects
5.Nature-Deficit Disorder

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 Natural Environment
■ Preference for natural over built
environments (Ulrich, 1986) e.g.,
leisure and recreation, real estate.
■ Positive physical and psychological
reactions to exposure to natural
environments.
■ Mental imagery and sounds of
natural environments has +ve
psychological effects. (Kaplan).
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 Evolutionary Psychology
“Ishi was sure he knew the
cause of our discontent. It
stemmed from an excessive
amount of indoor time...
'It is not a man's
nature to be too
much indoors.”
20
 Evolutionary Psychology
"If today I had a young mind to direct,
to start on the journey of life, and I
was faced with the duty of choosing
between the natural way of my
forefathers and that of the... present
way of civilization, I would, for its
welfare, unhesitatingly set that
child's feet in the path of my
forefathers. I would raise him to be
an Indian!“ (Tom Brown)
21
 Biophilia Hypothesis
Edward Wilson, an etymologist
proposed that: humans have an
instinctive affinity with life-like
processes i.e., nature, due to our
evolutionary history
"innate
tendency to
focus on life and
lifelike
processes."
- Wilson 22
 Biophilia Hypothesis
Proposition:
Human beings have a genetic
predisposition towards “life-like”
or “nature” processes.
Humans evolved as creatures
deeply enmeshed with the
intricacies of nature, and that we
still have this affinity with nature
ingrained in our genotype. 23
 Examples of “nature’s” imprint
on consciousness…
■ 90% of children’s stories, cartoons,
etc. feature animals as the main
characters
■ Photos and artworks of nature and
natural scenes adorn our homes,
work-places, used as screen
savers, etc.
■ Dwellings with views of nature (e.g.,
ocean views) are highly valued 24
Nature's Psychological Effects
Research reveals positive,
healthy effects of nature-based
experiences e.g., effects of
■ Animals
■ Nature scenes
■ Adventure therapy
■ Green exercise

25
 Nature-Deficit Disorder
■A term coined by Richard
Louv in his Last Child in
the Woods (2005)
■ Argues that children are
spending less time
outdoors, resulting in
behavioural problems
(e.g., ADHD), exacerbated
by parental fears,
restricted access to
nature, and technology. 26
 Green Prescription
Doctors and psychologists
are being encouraged to
consider “green”
experiences (in touch with
nature) and “green
prescriptions” as part of
the physical and
psychological health
promotion, prevention, and
treatment regimens.
27
 Howard Frumkin
■ Literature review of the positive
physical health effects of nature
(in American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
■ Biophiliahypothesis as
underlying the positive benefits.
■ Research reveals positive,
healthy effects of nature-based
experiences e.g., effects of animals,
nature scenes, adventure therapy, etc.
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 Humans  Environment
"Most psychologists still think that
environmental problems are the
concern of environmental scientists
but environmental problems are
caused primarily by human
behaviors, feelings and attitudes.
We can't solve these problems
without psychology's help and we
really need psychologists to go work
on them."
- Deborah Winter 29
Humans  Environment
■ Environmental Concerns
■ Attitudes & Behaviors
■ Population  Consumption
■ Barriers
■ Technology
■ Policy
■ Sustainability
30
 Environmental Concerns
■ Proenvironmental attitudes,
beliefs and values about the
relationship between humans
and the natural environment
■ Considers the environment as
valuable in its own right and as
worthy of protection, care, and
preservation by humans.
31
 Environmental Concerns
■ Rising since the 1960s
■ Gallup & Gallup (1993)
surveyed ~1000 people in
each of 22 countries. In 20
countries, environmental
protection was the top social
concern.
32
 Environmental Concerns
Approx. one quarter of Westerners think
environmental concerns are
exaggerated (N > 1000 per country).

Roy Morgan
Research
(2002) 33
 Population Psychology
■ Bigger picture examination of
the impacts of human population
and consumption on the
environment.
■ Also examines psychological
strategies for changing rates of
population growth and
psychological impacts of
population.
34
Population

35
Population  Consumption

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Population  Consumption
■ Psychologists can make
important contributions to
preserving natural resources.
■ Needed changes are largely
behavioural, e.g., recycling
and energy conservation.

37
 Recycling
Approx. three-quarters of Westerners
report being recyclers.
Factors
Demographics
. Knowledge
Concern
(Attitudes)
Personality

Roy Morgan Research (2002)

38
 Attitude-Behavior
■ Actions do not necessarily follow
attitudes.
◆ Need awareness of serious personal
consequences or strong
proconservation personal norm.
■ Prompts are more successful if they are:
◆ polite (rather than demanding),
◆ request a response that is easy to
perform and are
◆ administered close to the point of
response
Geller, 1981 39
 Attitude-Behavior
■ Antecedent strategies are not
very effective unless combined
with behavioral consequences
e.g., reinforcement, punishment, and
feedback.
■ However, use of behavioral
contingencies can create an
external locus of control.
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 Attitude-Behavior

■ Use persuasion, social

influence, remove obstacles,
and avoid social traps (e.g.,
logging industry vs. greenies) to
increase desired
environmental behaviours.

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 Attitude-Behavior
■ Lobby for policy changes
which help to create optimal
conditions for adoption and
maintenance of sustainable
living behaviours.
■ Foster individual specific,
local, internal, emotional
connections to nature.
42
Environmental Paradigms
(or Weltanschaung =
Worldviews)
■ Egocentric
e.g., Western worldview
■ Anthropocentric
e.g., Humanism
■ Ecocentric
e.g., Deep Ecology
43
 Deep Ecology
■ Shallow Ecology: Concern About
Pollution and Resource Depletion.
■ Intermediate-Depth Ecology:
The Spaceship Earth Analogy.
■ Deep Ecology: Bioequality.
Morally speaking, humans are not
more important than nonhuman life
forms and are not fundamentally
different than, or separate from,
them.
44
 Ecofeminism
“The ecofeminism
movement holds that
solving the problems of
sexism and environmental
destruction requires
acceptance of the
feminine paradigm and
rejection of the male
paradigm.”
Oskamp & Schultz, 1998, p. 212
45
 Best Solution?
■ Slow Growth – currently unlikely
in market economy, but necessary
■ Faster Transition to
Sustainability – we can be 15 x
as efficient if current best
technology was implemented
■ Such changes are only possible
via combined effects of public
policy & psychological strategy.
46
“Yes we need
more research,
but we know
enough to act”
- Howard Frumkin

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 Interventions / Models
■ Informational interventions
■ Social interventions
■ Slow growth
■ Technology transformation
■ Sustainable community
■ Permaculture

48
 Environmental Impact
I=PxAxT
■I = Impact on the environment
■ P = The population
■ A = Consumption per person
(affluence)
■ T = environmental effect of
particular technologies that support
the level of affluence.
49
 Public Policy Areas
■ Energy Use
■ Pollution
■ Solid Waste
■ Environmental Justice
■ Natural Resource Management
■ Population
50
 Public Policy Strategy
■ Strategies range from static to
dynamic psychology models
■ Remove obstacles
■ Introduce incentives & punishments
■ Educate
■ Feedback e.g., energy use monitors
■ Change norms (worldview)
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 Conservation Economy
Pattern Map of a
Conservation Economy
http://www.conservationeconomy.net/pattern_map

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TheTitle
NewOnly
Nature

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The New Nature

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Feedback

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56
 Permaculture
■Permanent – Culture
■Bill Mollison, a psychologist in
Tasmania co-developed the
framework with one of his
students, David Holmgren.

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 Permaculture

It's about design of systems

using natural principles in
order to minimise human
effort and maximise returns
in a sustainable way.

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59
 Psychology & The Future
Many psychologists work for environmental
management agencies, planning
authorities, & government bodies, & advise
on psychological and social considerations
and issues, including measurement and
assessment of:
◆ community attitudes, values and concerns,
◆ the relative effectiveness of differing
communication and behaviour change
strategies,
◆ ‘the people side’ & the planning & design of
sustainable human settings & natural
environment based services. 60