1. IAED 410 Environmental Psychology
Asst.Prof.Dr. Deniz Hasırcı
Spring

2. What is Environmental Psychology?
EP: The study of the relationships between behavior and experience and the built and natural environments.
Characterized by the following:
Study of the interrelationships of environment and behavior
Importance on applied and theoretical research
Interdisciplinary and international context
Eclectic methodology

3. CONTEXT The role of context is crucial in human functioning.
Systematic approach to context as a means for identifying new problems, which may have practical outcomes.
So, what is context?
Family?
Various behavior settings? (home, school etc.)
Psychological functioning in different cultural contexts? (Turkish, Japanese etc.)
Language?
Natural environment?
Built environment?
In general terms: “The interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs, the relative environment”.

6. Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, our behavior is influenced by aspects of the environment.
Buildings
Scenery
People
Sound etc.
These influences can be so powerful that they can completely change the way we behave.
Holiday, moving, war, recreation time

7. BIOLOGICAL
SOCIAL
BEHAVIORS
ENVIRONMENTAL (natural and built)

13. We are dealing with a constant relationship.
So, EP is:
Stokols and Altman (1987): “The study of human behavior, well-being, and experience in relation to the socio-physical environment”
We are dealing with a constant relationship.
A beautiful park attracting so many visitors, it deteriorates.

14. What will we cover this semester?
Definitions of EP
Adaptation
Pioneers of EP
Research approaches
Environmental Perception (Theories)
Environmental Cognition (Cognitive maps)
Environmental Attitudes
Performance
Preference
Crowding, Privacy, Territoriality
Personal Space, Personalization, Belonging
Learning environments, Offices, Hospitals
Environmental Stress
Basic research methods to approach an E-B situation.

15. See you next week!

16. History of Environmental Psychology and Research Methods
The Structure of the Ordinary?
Built environments of great richness and complexity arose informally.
Based on common understanding.
Who had the control?
patrons, builders, users?
“Environmental knowing” was never made explicit.

18. Gifford: Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice?
Both science and application
Theory + research + practice
solution of architectural and ecological problems in the world.

19. * To ease a real-world problem, one must have knowledge to apply.
Theory: not all-inclusive: provide directions for solutions
Theory guides both research and practice
Research findings: critical!
Common sense can be dangerous in problems of design:
Variations according to policies/culture/use.
Variations according to times/trends.
Individual differences.

20. This design is satisfactory for me - it will be satisfactory for everyone else.
This design is satisfactory for the average person - it will be satisfactory for everybody else.
The variability of human beings is so great that it is impossible to apply research- but people are adaptable, it doesn't matter anyway.
Research-based design is expensive and time-consuming, it may be ignored.
Research-based design is an excellent idea. I always design with this in mind - but I do it intuitively and rely on my common sense so I don't need tables of data. #

21. http://video. google. com/videoplay

24. No single factor shapes our experience and/or behavior.
Understanding and Application  to provide a coherent framework for understanding problematic EB relations.

26. Brief History of Environmental Psychology
and the Pioneers of the Field

27. Alternative Names and Phases of the Field
Architectural psychology,  narrow
Socio-architecture,
Ecopsychology,
Behavioral geography,
Environmental sociology,
Social ecology,
Environmental design research  sustainability
Environment-behavior studies,
Person-environment studies
Each advanced by different researchers, overlaps between the terms.
The knowledge can be applied to problematic real-world situations.

28. This field feeds from:
anthropology and ergonomics,
geography,
sociology,
psychology,
history,
political science,
planning,
architecture,
urban design,
aesthetics,
semiotics,
engineering,
public policy

29. experiences of recently housed homeless people,
privatization of public space,
socio-spatial conflicts,
children's safety in the public environment,
relocation,
community based approaches to housing,
design of specialized environments (museums, zoos, gardens, hospitals),
changing relationships between home, family and work,
access to parks and other urban 'green spaces'
diversity, exclusion, and the environment

30. Environmental Conditions
The environment can be a great force but, people and the environment are often both active.
Behavioral Consequences
Environmental Conditions
Behavioral Consequences
Adaptive Psychological Processes

31. 5 Principles of Environmental Psychology 
Interdisciplinary  
Improves the physical environment (applied)
Carried out in everyday settings
Considers person and setting as a holistic entity
Recognizes that people actively cope with and shape settings rather than just absorb them

32. Lewin (1940’s): Field Theory and Action Research
Brunswik (1943): “Representative Design”: “Environmental Psychology” in print: physical environments cn affect us without our knowing.
Barker and Wright (1955): “Ecological Psychology”
Ittelson (1964): “Environmental Psychology”: popularity
In architecture Sommer and Ittelson (1960’s):
Not just the aesthetic values, but comfort and needs of the users are also important.
Town planners realize that how the town was planned affected how people used it.

33. David Canter (1972): Manual on psychology specifically for architects:
“People and buildings: A brief overview of
research”
“Psychology of Place”
1960’s: “Journal of Environmental Psychology” and “Environment and Behavior”
1968: EDRA: Rappoport, Sanoff, Bechtel

34. * See you next week!
** Do not forget HW1.
*** Form your groups, decide on the topics.

35. PEOPLE AND NATURE Bell: Habraken: The environment is a context,
Yet a determinant or influence on behavior
(solution also comes from the environment),
Also, a consequence of behavior.
Habraken:
Built environment… can it be perceived as a single artifact?
Grow, renew, endure
Change and adaptation
That is why restoration is:
“a collage of intervention”.

36. … more like an organism.

37. Musee D'Orsay: and 1986

38. Control:
Defending space against unwanted intrusion.
Control is not necessarily transformation of space.
Then it would be to act upon material aspects of space.
Territorial control is to restrict entry: very instinctive.
Understanding territorial control through looking at the built environment (location and designed parts).

39. Shifts in territorial claim.
Margin created by architecture is softened.

40. http://arkitekturtv. dac

41. The Human being in Nature
Is our behavior or fundamental nature affected
by forces of the earth?
Human beings are an integral part of nature

43. Biophilia and Biophobia
Gibson (1979): “Affordance”: Human affinity for nature.
Edward O. Wilson (1984): The human need for contact with nature.
Evolution with a need for survival/ operation in nature.
To “like” envionments in which we function well.
Ulrich (1993): “Biophilia and Biophobia”
“Prepared learning”: easily learning threats
Liking related to innate characteristics of the environment
Genetic readiness + own experience or vicarious learning (someone else’s experience)

46. A park is a counterworld of the completely built urban environment: a symbol of nature

48. How does Nature Restore?
Kaplans: Attention-restoration theory:
Nature is inherently fascinating, it attracts our involuntary attention which requires no effort.
Cognitive approach (recharging of capacity for attention)

49. Experiments: videos, pictures of natural scenes
Evaluation: individual reports, and clinical numbers
Phenomenological
Experimental
Theories and findings: consultancy to firms.

52. Stress Reduction
We give directed attention to tasks requiring mental effort.
We limit and delay directed attention fatigue
We need to recharge by finding an “involuntary attention” requiring little effort.
“Soft fascinations” are often in natural settings

54. See you next week!