environmental psychology

Question 1

environmental psychology

Answer 1

• the discipline that studies the interplay between individuals and the built and natural environment
• we focus on the influence of the environment on human experience, behaviour and well-being

Question 2

behaviour in context

Answer 2

• behaviour occurs in particular environmental contexts
• context imposes major constraints on range of behaviours
• environment can determine patterns of behaviour

Question 3

Boutellier et al. (2008) - office layout study

Answer 3

• studied effects of office layout on communication at work
  –> frequency of face-face communication
  –> average duration of each event
  –> assessed via observation
• cell offices vs multi-space layout (x2)
• in Switzerland

Question 4

results of Boutellier et al. (2008)

Answer 4

• number of events per person, per hour:
  –> people talk to each other more often in multi-space office
  –> 5.5 per hour, compared to 2 per hour
• mean duration of events:
  –> less time spent in each interaction in multi-space (3 mins)
  –> longer interaction in cell office (9 mins)
• time spent without communication per hour
  –> more time spent alone in multi-space office (17 mins) compared to cell office (3 mins)

Question 5

is type of environment always impacting behaviour?

Answer 5

• no
• effect of the environment is dependent on the nature of the task

Question 6

Seddigh et al (2014) - nature of task and environment

Answer 6

• lots of different office types
  –> people either alone of with people in different contexts
• looked at nature of task:
  –> how much concentration does it need
  –> how distracted do you get
  –> how much cognitive stress do you feel (how hard has it been to think clearly?

Question 7

results of Seddigh et al (2014)

Answer 7

• when a task is easy and needs less concentration, you get less distracted
  –> can do the easy tasks
• in harder tasks that need more concentration, we get more distracted
• feeling distracted and concentrating less causes more cognitive stress
  –> if we need high concentration but have more distraction, we have more stress

Question 8

is the environment always impacting behaviour?

Answer 8

• no
• effect of the environment depends on the nature of the person

Question 9

Field Theory (Lewin, 1940)

Answer 9

• behaviour is determined by the interaction between a person and their environment
  –> person, environment and task all interact and impact behaviour
• Lewin’s Equation: 𝐵 = 𝑓(𝑃, 𝐸)
  –> p is the person
  –> b is behaviour
  –> e is the environment
• uses topology

Question 10

what is topology?

Answer 10

• P is the individual
• O represents their current situation or behaviour
• G is the goal that they wish to achieve
• maps out where the individual is in comparison to there they want to be

Question 11

environmental response inventory (McKechnie, 1974)

Answer 11

• includes need for privacy:
  –> there are often times when I need complete silence
  –> I am happiest when I am alone
  –> I get annoyed when people drop by without warning
  –> I am easily distracted by people moving about
• need for privacy can impact how the environment impacts behaviour

Question 12

Gifford (1980) - need for privacy study

Answer 12

• found negative correlations between need for privacy and evaluations of a café (r = -0.22) and City Hall (r = -0.17)
• those who value privacy more, dislike cafes and city halls more

Question 13

Roskams et al (2019)

Answer 13

• characteristics of the task:
  1. task complexity
  2. interactivity
• characteristics of the person:
  –> Big Five Mini-markers Extraversion sub-scale
  –> Weinstein’s (1978) Noise Sensitivity Scale
• outcomes:
  –> acoustic comfort
  –> disturbance by speech
  –> difficulties in concentration
  –> perceived stress
  –> work engagement
  –> office productivity

Question 14

results of Roskams et al (2019)

Answer 14

• Ps with higher noise sensitivity tended to:
  –> rate the acoustical quality of the office more negatively
  –> were more disturbed by speech
  –> had greater difficulties in concentration
  –> were more stressed
  –> had lower self-rated productivity

Question 15

conclusions of Roskams et al (2019)

Answer 15

the appropriateness of open-plan office for effective work performance is largely moderated by an individual’s noise sensitivity

Question 16

overarching message of environment on behaviour

Answer 16

• type of task AND environment AND type of person behaviour/outcome
  –> certain tasks require certain environments
  –> certain people require certain environments

Question 17

restorative environment

Answer 17

• ‘happy place’
• places we comfortable and safe
• ‘restores’ us
  –> gives us energy

Question 18

what makes an environment ‘restorative’?

Answer 18

• Perceived Restorativeness Scale:
• how fascinating is it?
  –> my attention is drawn to many interesting things
• is there a sense of ‘being away’?
  –> spending time here gives me a good break from my day-to-day routine
• is it coherent? (extent to which it makes sense)
  –> there is too much going on
• are you compatible with it?
  –> i can do things I like here

Question 19

what aspects of zoo attractions make them restorative?

Answer 19

• a restorative environment doesn’t need all the features of a restorative environment
• specific features for different environments
• e.g. those that got please from the butterfly enclosure did so because they found it fascinating
  –> whereas those who got pleasure from the baboon enclosure did so because it felt like an escape
• different features for different environments

Question 20

Jiang et al (2021) - what effect(s) do ‘restorative’ environments have?

Answer 20

• different sounds
  –> mute
  –> nature sounds
  –> mechanical sounds
  –> traffic sound
• different vids
  –> urban park
  –> office plaza
  -> urban street
• either coherent or incoherent
• mood questionnaire before and after vids
  –> how do people feel?
  –> how do restorative environments impact us?

Question 21

results of Jiang et al (2021)

Answer 21

• purely visual (mute):
  –> worse after watching an urban street, nothing else
• when playing a nature sound:
  –> better when watching the urban park
  –> urban street is less distressing than when mute
• mechanical sound:
  –> no visual vid with this makes you feel better, urban park is now the worst visual
• traffic sound:
  –> ruins all the visuals
  –> worst sound effect

Question 22

critically evaluate Jiang et al (2021)

Answer 22

• strengths:
  –> factorial design
  –> random allocation
• weaknesses:
  –> doesn’t have a ‘no visual’ factor with just signs
  –> virtual/simulated - low ecological validity
  –> people assume their answers should change (so they change their answers)
  –> no cover story given

Question 23

Mayer et al (2009) - effects of restorative environments

Answer 23

• Ps randomly sit on bus 1 or bus 2
  –> bus 1 drives to a park
  –> bus 2 drives to city centre
  –> Ps walk around a park for 10 mins and then sit for 5 mins
• when on the bus, asked Ps to
  reflect on a loose end in your life that needs tying (needs to be possible to solve and rational)
  –> can’t talk on bus
  –> sit and reflect silently for the whole journey
• do not talk when at the park/city
• positive and negative affect schedule (measure of moods) after the study
• answer this question:
  –> “I feel more prepared to ‘tie up my
  loose end’ than I did before I began this study”
  –> strongly disagree – strongly agree

Question 24

results of Mayer et al (2009)

Answer 24

• greater positive affect / moods in the park than the city
• less negative affect
  –> not that city made them feel worse, just that park made them feel better than average
• more able to reflect on loose end and more prepared to tackle the loose end in the natural (park) group than the (urban) city group

Question 25

summarise restorative environments

Answer 25

• environments that are:
  –> fascinating
  –> novel
  –> provide escape
  –> support desired activities
• are restorative

Question 26

why do restorative environments work? (mechanisms)

Answer 26

1. stress recovery theory
2. attention restoration theory
3. perceptual fluency account

Question 27

stress recovery theory

Answer 27

• features in natural environments (immediately) evoke positive affect
  –> without conscious recognition
• this serves to lower arousal and reduce stress

Question 28

Kang & Shin (2020) - stress recovery theory

Answer 28

• students randomly allocated to forest bathing therapy or control
• for many people forest is a restorative environment
• 8 sessions in the forest doing things like:
  –> walking
  –> climbing
  –> rope games
  –> etc…
• measured stress levels before forest programme and after
• stress level after forest therapy were reduced
  –> evidence for stress recovery theory

Question 29

attention restoration theory

Answer 29

• most environments ‘fight’ for our attention and so are depleting
  –> termed ‘directed attentional fatigue’
• however, natural environments:
  –> provide fascination
  –> a sense of connectedness
  –> a sense of being away from daily hassles
  – are compatible with inclinations
• as a result, natural environments restore attention
  –> the attention we usually lose / is split in busy environments is fully restored
  –> they counteract attentional fatigue
• takes time, slow/cognitive mechanism
• focus is on attention

Question 30

mayer et al (2009) - attention restoration theory

Answer 30

• same bus study as before
• also measured attentional processes
• attentional task was to look for a series of letters in a text, had to cross these out - had to remember these letters
  –> digit crossing task
• those in the natural environment (park) made fewer errors than those in the urban one (city)
  –> restored their attention
• however, the reason as to why people did better WASN’T due to attentional capacity, rather due to feeling more connected to nature

Question 31

Contact with nature helps people regulate emotions? (Bratman et al., 2024)

Answer 31

• survey 600 adults in the US
• asked about:
  –> frequency of contact with nature
  –> use of distraction
  –> rumination
  –> use of reappraisal
  –> emotional ill-being and well-being
• measured positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, purpose in life and perceived stress

Question 32

results of Bratman et al (2024)

Answer 32

• more contact with nature led to better wellbeing and less likely to experience ill being
• more time in nature spent less time ruminating about behaviour
  –> less ruminating leads to better well being and less ill being
• more time in nature leads to more reappraisal (thinking positively/rationally about why something happened)
  –> more reappraisal better well being and less ill being
• more time with nature, less likely to use distraction as an emotion regulation technique
  –> perhaps more likely to tackle issues head on, rather than distracting yourself

Question 33

perceptual fluency account

Answer 33

• natural environments are processed more fluently than urban settings, due to their fractal patterns
• means that they contain more redundant information than urban scenes
• easier to process
• form a more coherent picture more easily
  –> more fractal patterns

Question 34

Hägerhäll et al (2015)- perceptual fluency account

Answer 34

• created fractals (patterns)
  –> had fractals with more dimensions
  –> had fractals that were more random
• more random fractals in nature, less random is urban areas
• presented Ps with fractals and measured brain activity using EEGs
• more response when fractals were random
  –> this indicates more internal attention, a more wakefully relaxed state
  –> easier to process