Environmental Psychology
Course focus
1. The person in the environment
a. Attention to theories, methods, and research designs that take the physical
environment into account.
b. Explicit attention to the way thoughts, feelings, and (social) behavior are
caused, influenced, or moderated by characteristics of the physical
environment – and the other way around.
2. Reciprocal relations between persons and environments
a. How does a person influence the environment?
b. Can we read a person from the environment? → messy rooms, clothes
c. “We shape our building, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.”
3. Social origin and meaning of many man-environment interactions
a. Home, school, neighborhood, work, prison, park, etc.
b. These all describe physically defined environments with a clearly social
character.
i. Example: if you have a green schoolyard, instead of gray, kids will feel
better; greater well-being, less bullying.
ii. Example: if you take the trashcans out of a park, littering will increase.
But if you take the trashcans out AND add the watching eyes, littering
will decrease. So, combine behavioral with psychological.
4. Opportunities to change for the better:
a. Greater well-being and improved environmental quality by behavioral
interventions
b. Change is possible; local, national, international
1
,Lecture 1 – Setting the Scene
Environmental problems
The Greenhouse Effect is generally considered the one of the largest environmental
problems globally.
• Natural Greenhouse Effect
• Human Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
→ raising temperatures globally
Example
The mean temperature in the Netherlands is raising for the past 100 years.
Kievit birds lay their eggs now earlier in the year than normally. The little birds will come out
their eggs when the grass is not growing yet. Because of this, the whole system is changing.
(If you take one thing out.)
- Paris Agreement – COP21
- Glasgow Summit 2021 – COP26
Articles summary
• Wohlwill (1970): Philosophical introductory paper about the role of environmental
psychology
• Goldberg (1969): Observational study of specific urban phenomenon (topic of lecture
2)
• Kaplan (1995): Theoretical paper about the restorative effects of nature (topic of
lecture 3)
• Gosling et al. (2002): Systematic approach of using the environmental “design” to
form a personality impression (topic of lecture 4)
• Hardin (1968): Descriptive paper about the psychological fundaments of the
sustainability issues (topic of lecture 5)
• Van der Wal et al. (2018): Experimental design testing a strategy to enhance
sustainable behavior (topic of lecture 6)
• Kotler (2011): Research letter to steer marketeers towards a more sustainable vision
and mission (topic of lecture 7)
2
,Articles week 1
Wohlwill, J. F. (1970). The emerging discipline of environmental psychology. American
Psychologist, 25, 303-312.
Main issues
• Environmental psychology is a response to concerns about the quality of the
environment (1968 Limits of growth, Club of Rome).
o There are limits of growing in the industry because it has an impact on the
environment.
• Environmental psychology is problem oriented, applied, inclined to cooperate in
multidisciplinary projects.
• Environmental psychology has unique potential to ask new questions
o The world is developing so, new problems, new questions.
Three forms of relationship between person and physical environment:
1. Environment guides and constrains behavior: Barriers, compatibility, ‘fit’;
environment is instrumental.
2. Long term exposure to general conditions may exert generalized effects:
o Example: Urban lifestyle as a function of crowding. (Growing up living in a
city, makes you into a different person than growing up in a village.)
o Example: The working day rhythm is a function of the climate. (Different
working days in Holland and Spain because of the different climate.)
3. Behavior is oriented toward environment; environment is focal.
Motivation by environmental stimuli:
• Affect (emotion) evoked by the characteristics of a stimulus (complexity, diversity,
novelty, category).
• Environment determines approach and avoidance reactions (moving, migrating,
holiday destinations)
o Example approach: moving to the south of France for the weather, food,
nature.
• Adaptation (“man is at once a seeker and neutralizer of stimulation”)
o How people adapt to the environment
Not discussed but important to mention
• Individual differences in sensation seeking, environmental concern, etc.
• Attitude formation and attitude change regarding environmental problems
o How do people form/change an attitude towards something?
• Problems that seem environmental but are primarily social, economic, educational
(slums, ghetto’s) -> social status
3
, Not necessary
remember its findings,
but why is it important
to look at it.
Goldberg, T. (1969). The automobile. A social institution for adolescents. Environment
and Behavior, 1, 152-185.
Premises
• Designers like to design something in a way that it has a function. They think about
the relation between a physical form and social behavior. But these insights are
based on intuitions rather than on science. These insights are often wrong, because:
o Intuition barely/hardly works
o The scientific approach is shallow (it misses in depth understanding of social
processes)
Study
• Goldberg (1969) analysis specific environmental problem caused by conflicting
sociocultural forces (like traffic jams).
• Demonstrates relationships between sociocultural, behavioral, and physical
environment.
• Problem description:
o Bored adolescents have nowhere to go;
o They like cars, so they drove around;
o Therefore: They take the road for social gatherings (cruising, dragging the
main, making the strip).
• Their problem solving of being bored creates problems for others: blocking of roads,
creating unsafety, noise annoyance.
Social interaction and adolescence in 1969
• Characterized by (1) peer group influences, (2) sexual activity, and (3) rivalry →
meeting place should be a “full blown social arena” (p. 160).
• Adolescents love cars → cars are suitable for competition (more easily than sports or
intellectual achievements) and have a sexual symbolism.
Observations: Cruising has strict codes
o Often drive alone (sometimes in pairs)
o Aspire to have expensively altered, ‘hot’ cars
o Are to be found in places best suited for display
o Have windows rolled down (→ calling to girls)
o Do not drive alone
o When in pairs they are open to a date
o When with three they are not open to a date (out to tease)
o Have windows initially closed (control)
Take away article → observe
in a scientific way.
Outcomes Look what people do, how
• All activity takes place in or near the car. they do it, how they use the
• Cruisers maximize visibility (driving and parking). environment to solve the
problem and how the
• Cruising is self-sustaining, no need for other amusement facilities environment determines
(just needs road, parking places, light). how to solve the problem.
Goldberg’s unfulfilled promise (problem with article)
• He did not mention how to solve the problem after having properly analyzed the phenomenon.
• He promised another publication, but it never4 appeared.
Course focus
1. The person in the environment
a. Attention to theories, methods, and research designs that take the physical
environment into account.
b. Explicit attention to the way thoughts, feelings, and (social) behavior are
caused, influenced, or moderated by characteristics of the physical
environment – and the other way around.
2. Reciprocal relations between persons and environments
a. How does a person influence the environment?
b. Can we read a person from the environment? → messy rooms, clothes
c. “We shape our building, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.”
3. Social origin and meaning of many man-environment interactions
a. Home, school, neighborhood, work, prison, park, etc.
b. These all describe physically defined environments with a clearly social
character.
i. Example: if you have a green schoolyard, instead of gray, kids will feel
better; greater well-being, less bullying.
ii. Example: if you take the trashcans out of a park, littering will increase.
But if you take the trashcans out AND add the watching eyes, littering
will decrease. So, combine behavioral with psychological.
4. Opportunities to change for the better:
a. Greater well-being and improved environmental quality by behavioral
interventions
b. Change is possible; local, national, international
1
,Lecture 1 – Setting the Scene
Environmental problems
The Greenhouse Effect is generally considered the one of the largest environmental
problems globally.
• Natural Greenhouse Effect
• Human Enhanced Greenhouse Effect
→ raising temperatures globally
Example
The mean temperature in the Netherlands is raising for the past 100 years.
Kievit birds lay their eggs now earlier in the year than normally. The little birds will come out
their eggs when the grass is not growing yet. Because of this, the whole system is changing.
(If you take one thing out.)
- Paris Agreement – COP21
- Glasgow Summit 2021 – COP26
Articles summary
• Wohlwill (1970): Philosophical introductory paper about the role of environmental
psychology
• Goldberg (1969): Observational study of specific urban phenomenon (topic of lecture
2)
• Kaplan (1995): Theoretical paper about the restorative effects of nature (topic of
lecture 3)
• Gosling et al. (2002): Systematic approach of using the environmental “design” to
form a personality impression (topic of lecture 4)
• Hardin (1968): Descriptive paper about the psychological fundaments of the
sustainability issues (topic of lecture 5)
• Van der Wal et al. (2018): Experimental design testing a strategy to enhance
sustainable behavior (topic of lecture 6)
• Kotler (2011): Research letter to steer marketeers towards a more sustainable vision
and mission (topic of lecture 7)
2
,Articles week 1
Wohlwill, J. F. (1970). The emerging discipline of environmental psychology. American
Psychologist, 25, 303-312.
Main issues
• Environmental psychology is a response to concerns about the quality of the
environment (1968 Limits of growth, Club of Rome).
o There are limits of growing in the industry because it has an impact on the
environment.
• Environmental psychology is problem oriented, applied, inclined to cooperate in
multidisciplinary projects.
• Environmental psychology has unique potential to ask new questions
o The world is developing so, new problems, new questions.
Three forms of relationship between person and physical environment:
1. Environment guides and constrains behavior: Barriers, compatibility, ‘fit’;
environment is instrumental.
2. Long term exposure to general conditions may exert generalized effects:
o Example: Urban lifestyle as a function of crowding. (Growing up living in a
city, makes you into a different person than growing up in a village.)
o Example: The working day rhythm is a function of the climate. (Different
working days in Holland and Spain because of the different climate.)
3. Behavior is oriented toward environment; environment is focal.
Motivation by environmental stimuli:
• Affect (emotion) evoked by the characteristics of a stimulus (complexity, diversity,
novelty, category).
• Environment determines approach and avoidance reactions (moving, migrating,
holiday destinations)
o Example approach: moving to the south of France for the weather, food,
nature.
• Adaptation (“man is at once a seeker and neutralizer of stimulation”)
o How people adapt to the environment
Not discussed but important to mention
• Individual differences in sensation seeking, environmental concern, etc.
• Attitude formation and attitude change regarding environmental problems
o How do people form/change an attitude towards something?
• Problems that seem environmental but are primarily social, economic, educational
(slums, ghetto’s) -> social status
3
, Not necessary
remember its findings,
but why is it important
to look at it.
Goldberg, T. (1969). The automobile. A social institution for adolescents. Environment
and Behavior, 1, 152-185.
Premises
• Designers like to design something in a way that it has a function. They think about
the relation between a physical form and social behavior. But these insights are
based on intuitions rather than on science. These insights are often wrong, because:
o Intuition barely/hardly works
o The scientific approach is shallow (it misses in depth understanding of social
processes)
Study
• Goldberg (1969) analysis specific environmental problem caused by conflicting
sociocultural forces (like traffic jams).
• Demonstrates relationships between sociocultural, behavioral, and physical
environment.
• Problem description:
o Bored adolescents have nowhere to go;
o They like cars, so they drove around;
o Therefore: They take the road for social gatherings (cruising, dragging the
main, making the strip).
• Their problem solving of being bored creates problems for others: blocking of roads,
creating unsafety, noise annoyance.
Social interaction and adolescence in 1969
• Characterized by (1) peer group influences, (2) sexual activity, and (3) rivalry →
meeting place should be a “full blown social arena” (p. 160).
• Adolescents love cars → cars are suitable for competition (more easily than sports or
intellectual achievements) and have a sexual symbolism.
Observations: Cruising has strict codes
o Often drive alone (sometimes in pairs)
o Aspire to have expensively altered, ‘hot’ cars
o Are to be found in places best suited for display
o Have windows rolled down (→ calling to girls)
o Do not drive alone
o When in pairs they are open to a date
o When with three they are not open to a date (out to tease)
o Have windows initially closed (control)
Take away article → observe
in a scientific way.
Outcomes Look what people do, how
• All activity takes place in or near the car. they do it, how they use the
• Cruisers maximize visibility (driving and parking). environment to solve the
problem and how the
• Cruising is self-sustaining, no need for other amusement facilities environment determines
(just needs road, parking places, light). how to solve the problem.
Goldberg’s unfulfilled promise (problem with article)
• He did not mention how to solve the problem after having properly analyzed the phenomenon.
• He promised another publication, but it never4 appeared.
