Topic 5 Environmental psychology Flashcards
What is the summary of Ulrich?
The aim of this research was to find out whether the view hospital patients have through their window might affect their recovery from surgery.
The sample included 46 patients (aged 20-69) in a Pennsylvania hospital, all of whom had undergone gall bladder surgery. They were split into 23 pairs, and each person in the pair was matched (on age, gender, whether they smoked, weight, health history). Half the participants had a view of a brick wall, and the other half had a view of trees through their hospital window. A nurse who was blind to which condition the patient had been assigned to then analysed their hospital records noting: the recovery time from the surgery (how long after the operation they were discharged), the amount and strength of pain medication and anti-anxiety medication taken, and the number of positive or negative notes on their charts.
Those who had a view of trees took 7.96 days before they were discharged compared to 8.7 for those who had a brick view. They also needed fewer and less strong analgesics, and had fewer negative notes on their patient chart.
What is Cohen et al about?
Cohen to investigate the effect of noise on reading ability. the sample was 54 children in New York City lived in 32 story apartments buildings they all went to the same school.
Apartments on the higher floors experienced on average 55 dB, lower floors on average experience 66 dB
Significant correlations were found between floor level and auditory discrimination (+48) and floor level level and reading ability. Correlation between Word knowledge (+55), reading comprehension ( +48) and reading total ( +53).
What is Bickman et al about?
Investigated whether the density of the population affects how helpful people are. They studied undergraduate students living in 10 female dormitories in the university of Massachusetts and 37 houses at Smith College.
What is Newman about?
Defensible space is the idea that residents will maintain and look after areas that belong to them. You can create this kind of space by using fences to show boundaries between residents and creating semi-private courtyards that only the resident would use. If public spaces are subdivided and assigned to individuals or smaller groups, they are much more likely to look after those areas than massive groups of people.
What is Armitage about?
investigated whether a cul-de-sac are less likely to experience crime than through roads. Analyse records of property crime in Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Kent. Analyses recorded crime data from January 2007 to December 2009 and found that sinuous cul-de-sac, curvy without leaky footpaths, had the lowest level of crime. Suggested footpaths can be included when they are well used, short, direct, wide, overlooked, well lit and not running along the side or the rear of properties.
What are the applications of topic 5 environmental?
-Ensure there are semi-private courtyards that residents are given ownership of so they can maintain it (Newman)
-Build the housing developments near green space (Ulrich)
-Use double glazed windows and other sound insulation in the homes to reduce noise from nearby traffic (Cohen)
