STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 1. Identify environmental psychology through analysis of nature and human nature, seminal research, and ongoing controversy.

 2. Apply theoretical perspectives in psychology as they pertain to affecting and being effected by natural and built environments.

 3. Evaluate various environmental designs that maximize human behavior in residential, institutional, work, learning, and leisure environments.

 4. Identify and differentiate among the effects of weather, climate, technological and natural disasters, toxic hazards, pollution, personal space, territoriality, and crowding upon behavior and thinking.

 5. Evaluate issues of sustainability and changing behavior to change environment.

 6. Demonstrate and practice APA style in research and writing.

 

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I. History, characteristics, & implications of the study of environmental psychology

 II. General methods that environmental psychologists use

 A. Common research methods (experimental, correlational, descriptive)

 B. Common data collection methods (self-report, observation, task performance, & trace measurements)

 C. Ethical implications (informed consent & invasion of privacy)

 III. Attitudes and values regarding the changing meaning of nature (egocentrism, anthropocentrism, ecocentrism, e.g.)

 A. Aesthetics and landscape preferences (descriptive & physical-perceptual approaches)

 B. Psychological factors (biophobia/biophilia, Berlyne’s formal beauty, Kaplans’ preference, restorative effects of nature, place attachment)

 IV. Environmental perception and cognition

 A. Phenomonological (holistic) perceptual analyses and traditional (empirical) analyses

 B. Brunswick’s lens model and Gibson’s ecological perceptions

 C. Habituation to perception of change

 D. Elements and errors of cognitive maps and sketch maps

 E. Characteristics that affect wayfinding

 V. Theories of environmental psychology

 A. Hypotheses, laws, models, & theories

 B. Heuristics and constructs

 C. Outcomes of good theories

 D. Arousal-based theories (Arousal, E-load, Understimulation, Adaption-level)

 E. Behavior-based theories (B-constraint, E-stress, Barker’s Ecological)

 VI. Noise

 A. Pathways important to auditory sensation & perception

 B. Technical aspects of sound & vibration

 C. Hearing effects of common sounds

 D. Health effects of noise (cognitive, psychological, developmental, social, & physical)

 E. Complexities of reducing noise

 VII. Weather, climate, and behavior

 A. Reciprocal nature of weather and climate on human behavior

 B. Global warming, greenhouse effect, ozone hole, Gaia hypothesis, El Nino/La Nina, & geographical determinism

 C. Effects of heat, cold, wind, and altitude on behavior and thinking

 VIII. Disasters, toxic hazards, and pollution

 A. Natural disaster versus technological disaster

 B. Perceptual & psychological effects of each kind of disaster

 C. Connection to environmental theories

 D. Asbestos, toxic waste, radon, sick building syndrome, study of teratogens, & disposal of environmental hazards

 E. Effects of air pollution on behavior

 IX. Personal space and territoriality

 A. Functions of personal space & methods of studying it

 B. Environmental & personal determinants of personal space

 C. Invasion of personal space and various spatial zones

 D. Research into territoriality and implications for aggression

 E. Design issues that affect territoriality

 X. Density and crowding

 A. Physiological and behavioral consequences of high density on non-humans

 B. Methods of studying density, effects in humans, and main consequences

 C. Preventing and coping with crowding

 XI. The city

 A. Overload, stress, behavior constraint, and adaptation in urban life

 B. Effects of urban life on stress response, affiliative and prosocial behaviors, perception of the stranger, crime, and homelessness

 C. Environmental solutions to urban problems

 XII. Planning and design for human behavior

 A. Importance of behavior in design, architectural determinism, and congruence

 B. Process of design and gaps in communication

 C. Potential substantive contributions of privacy, materials, color, lighting, windows, furniture, aesthetics, and sense of place to B

 D. The design cycle

 XIII. Design of residential and institutional environments

 A. Attachment, preferences, satisfaction, use of space, propinquity, and community in residential environments

 B. Design issues for hospital patients, staff, and visitors

 C. Design issues for prisons

 D. Design for adaptation of the elderly in residential and institutional environments

 XIV. Design of work, learning, and leisure environments

 A. The history of design in work settings and issues of sound, furniture, layout, and territoriality at work

 B. Connection to human factors engineering

 C. Ergonomics, control-display issues, and office plans

 D. Variables that effect various learning environments including classrooms, libraries, and museums

 E. Relationship of leisure and recreation to natural landscapes, wilderness, and preservation

 XV. Changing behavior to change environment

 A. Examples, types, and experiments based on the Commons Dilemma to help explain environment-behavior problems

 B. Antecedent and consequent strategies for encouraging environmentally responsible behaviors

 C. The problem of attitude change and relative effects of education

 D. Examples of operant conditioning rewards and punishments in changing behavior

 E. Suggestions for encouraging sustainability by removing barriers, encouraging commitment, using technology, and “going green” on a large scale