Lecture 7 Flashcards
What is environmental perception
- How we percieve and mentally represent the world around us.
- How do we make sense in the world we find ourselves in and interact with
- The environment is not a simple stimulus - infinitely complex
What are the three models discussed when considering Environmental perception
- Lens model (Brunswick)
- Theory of Affordances (Gibson)
- Perception of Affordances (Norman)
What is the Lens Model (Brunskwik)
This theory is about SURVIVEABILITY
- If we find ourselves in an envrionment, we have to make a decision “is this safe?”. We need to understand the environment in order to function effectively.
- As such, there are an infinite number of cues in the envrionment and you have to pick the correct cue in order to make a correct assessment of the environment
This theory is about ACHIEVEMENT - how close are you, in terms of your perception and the state of the environment
- the degree of accurate perception of the environment (achievement) is dependent on:
1. ecological validity - whether the cues correctly reflect the state of teh environment
2. cue utilisation - the degree to which appropriate cues are used
Why is the Lens Model a probabalistic model?
When you have cues, there is an imperfect relationship between the cues and the state of the environment.
Why is the Lens model not common in environmental psychology?
It has been used, but it is quite hard to apply to how we interact with the envrionment because its hard to know the true state of the environment
- more abut perception
- hard to know if there are high levels of achievement or not
Useful for medical diagnosis, interpersonal interactiosn and decisin making (Loeb et al., 1999)
Gibsons Thoery of Affordances - What did he argue?
Gibson argues that perception is far more direct and less interpretive.
- The moment we are born, we interact with the environment and we learn whats around us and what we can do with the environment (physical properties of the environment)
- Rather than having a picture of the environment with several cues that we need to combine to perceive, Gibson argues that we learn what certain types of envrionments are and what you can do with them
What is affordance theory?
- Perception of the environment is direct without sensory or cognitive mediation
- People perceive objects in terms of the opportunities they offer
- An afforance is a quality of an object or an environmnet that allows an individual to perform an action
e.g. THROWABILITY of a baseball Vs basketball depends on different characterisics (size, shape, weight, grip)
In terms of perceptions of the world, you percieve patterns and know what to do with them (stairs, bench)
Transient approach to Affordance theory
Theres a transaction based on the needs and what the physical properties allows you to do.
e.g. using a bench to sit, play, skateboard - depends on the need and what we can do with the bench
What is Perception of affordances Theory (Norman, 1988)
The design of everyday things
- Norman argues that the design of objects act as a communication between the object and the perciever
- A design communicates the action that you can perfrom with the object that is designed.
Its not just whether the object has affordances or not, but also whether the affordance communicated its use/is observable or not
The PERCEPTUAL dimension of the perception of affordances
This theory is the perceptual dimension of the original theory
Perceptible affordance = the design of something DOES communicate what to do with it (e.g. door handle example)
- Theory propses 4 outcomes with a affordance
1. Perceptual information - YES, Affordance - NO = false affordances
2. Perceptual information - YES, Affordance - YES = Perceptible affordance
3. Perceptual information - NO, Affordance - NO = Correct rejection
4. Perceptual information - NO, Affordance - YES = Hidden affordances
Lockton et al., (2010) Perception of affordance theory to sustainable behaviour
They found that reshaping holes on bins to match the ‘form’ of differen types of waste has been shown to increase recycling levels significantly
Duffy et al., Perception of affordance theory to sustainable behaviour
Compared whether rubbish thrown in the bin was correct or not when the bin lid was removed (normal hole) Vs the lid had designs which chnaged the communication of how to interact with these bins. The perceptin of glass/cans/plastic bottles increased when the bin was shaped like a bottle hole
- Absent lid = 57% glass, cans, plastic
- Present lid = 92% of glass, cans and plastic
How has the perception of affordance theory been used negatively?
Hostile Architecture
- arms purposely put on benches to stop homeless people sleeping on benches
Clark and Uzell (2002): Affordance of envrionmnet for adolescents
What do different places ‘mean’ to people in terms of ‘action possbilities’
- Assessed how adolescents use different public spaces (home, neighbourhood, school, city centre) for different needs. The two developmental needs they were interested in were:
1. Need for social interaction
2. Need for retreat
Findings:
- The neighbourhod, school and city centre was used for both social interaction and retreat
- The home environment was used for security ad friend retreat
BUT there was dynamics within this - Big depedence on year group
What are the three theories discussed when considering Envrionmental Aethetics
- Habitat theory
- Formal Aethetic model
- Model of environmental preference
The Biophilia hypothesis underlies all these theories
What is the Biophilia hypothesis?
We have an innate affinity with other living things. We like living things!!
- there is a preference for environments that sustain a lot of life, provides surviveability and evolutionary needs
- can explain why greenspaces have restorative functions
Evidence for the Biophilia hypothesis
- Biophobia - lots of objects, environments, situations and animals that we dislike. Such ‘phobias’ are often towards animals, environments or situations that might be potentially dangerous
- Lorence & Tinbergen (1951) conducted experiments to assess whether animals have an instinctive dislike of certain shapes of animals. In the study they took types of turkeys that had never saw other turkey types. They flew them from left to right or right to left.
- The turkey signalled threats when flown left to right (representing an eagle shape)
- As it couldnt have been socialised, theres this evolutionary trait that these turkey chicks have for what is threatening to them
