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psychiatry is a branch of medicine

of all psychologists, only clinical psychologists are engaged in therapy

hierarchy of methods:

1 case study

2 correlational

3 experimental

Environment

Environmental psychology is a relatively young (sub)discipline

  • Term coined in 1964
  • First handbook in 1974: Proshansky, Ittleson, Rivlin
  • Born from psychology, roots in geography and architecture as well

Today, two professional organisations that organize conferences:

  • EDRA (Environmental Design Research Assosication)
  • IAPS (International Organisation for People-environment Studies

Primary Journals:

  • Journal of Environmental Psychology
  • Environment and Behavior
  • Landscape and Urban Planning

landscape, nature, environment, wildlife

built environment,

interior, place, garden

these objects/environments are studied by other disciplines (geology, soil sciences, hydrology, ecology, rural sociology, resource economy, etc.) as well, so what's distinctive about environmental psychology?

Conclusion:

We do not see the world as it is, but we organize stimuli by assigning meaning

See sections 9.2 and 9.3 in: Jacobs, MH (2006) The production of mindscapes. Wageningen: Wageningen University

(note: mental concepts is equivalent to meanings)

Gestalt theory:

Laws that describe how we tend to see stimuli as a whole

AND ALSO

policy makers, planners and architects strive for aesthetically appealing landscapes

problem!

Expert judgments, however, may not be reflective of the public.

Solution: empirical research into landscape experience and preferences

Question: which landscapes are experienced as beautiful?

Variety of theories has been developed

sense of place

Images of nature

adapative approach

today

Adaptive approaches:

  • address relations between physical properties of landscapes and preferences
  • assume preferences are partly innate
  • emphasize commonalities in preferences

Arousal theory - Berlyne

Preference matrix - Kaplan & Kaplan

Prospect refuge theory - Appleton

landscapes that evoke an optimal arousal level have a high hedonic value and are therefore preferred

Which landscapes?

We prefer landscapes that are:

  • Coherent
  • Complex
  • Legible
  • Mysterious

Hence: keep it simple:

We like those landscapes that enhance survival

1 landscapes with water (needed to survive)

2 landscapes with vegetation (food and shelter)

3 landscapes with prospect refuge opportunities

coherent and complex

legible and mysterious

prospect and refuge

legible but not mysterious

low arousal

prospect but no refure

refuge but no prospect

coherent but not complex

changing relationships with nature

"woeste gronden" (wild domains) or "te ontginnen gronden" (domains to be colonised)

becomes "nature"on maps

divergence

aim: to identify people's views on nature

practical benefits:

  • inform managers and policy makers about the public
  • explain differences and conflicts
  • mental phenomena
  • consisting of meanings assigned to nature
  • that are relatively stable
  • and influenced by culture

1 cognitive component:

What is real nature?

2 normative component:

How should we manage nature?

3 expressive component:

What is beautiful nature?

Criticism

Empirical research is so-so

Focused on policy, not so much on the public

Expressive dimension is operationalized in a pretty weird way

  • bottom-up approach
  • no expressive dimension
  • studying actual people

Study:

Buijs, A.E. (2008). Lay people's images of nature. Society and Natural Resources, 22, 417-432.

what are the effects of images of nature?

Relationships between images and landscape preferences:

  • Those with wilderness image prefer natural landscapes over managed landscapes (functional and inclusive not)
  • Those with inclusive image like all landscapes better than those with wilderness of functional image

Relationships between images and demographics:

  • Highly educated adhere more to wilderness image than lowly educated
  • Males adhere more to functional image, females more to inclusive image

Relationships between images and ethnicity:

  • native Dutch adhere more often to wilderness image than immigrants
  • 1st generation immigrants adhere more to wilderness image than 2nd generation

what can policy makers, planners, designers do with images of nature?

As future designers, planners, and policy makers, what do you think?

Despite criticism,

it seems safe to say that humans have a severe and often negative influence on the environment

anthropocene

= current geological epoch

Mankind has a central role in ecology and geology

Most experts agree that, ultimately, human behaviour has te change, in order to reduce environmental impact

environmental consequences are often:

collective

global

Therefore, a need to understand environmental behaviour (what people do) and enviromental attitudes (what people think)

Attitude is the most frequently employed concept in social psychology, also used a lot in environmental psychology

Attitude towards an object is formed on the basis of a person's beliefs about that object

Attitudes:

  • are evaluative in nature
  • are believed to precede intention or behaviour
  • are important for deliberate and voluntary behaviours

Steps for measuring attitudes:

1 determine attitude object

2 elicit relevant beliefs

3 questionnaire and data collection

4 data analysis

Environmental attitudes:

Mental disposition to favour-disfavour pro-environmental behaviour

various operationalizations and measurements, no standard has emerged yet

New

Environmental

Paradigm

New Environmental Paradigm refers to this new worldview that places emphasis on environment

Scales for questionnaires consists of 12/15 items, e.g.:

  • Humans are severely abusing the environment
  • Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist

NEP doesn't predict behaviour very well

(this was never the intention)

Ecological worldview

(equivalent to value orientations):

  • NEP

Awareness of consequences:

  • Knowing negative consequences of behaviours on environment

Ascription of responsibility:

  • belief that one's actions have influence on the environment

Proenvironmental norms:

  • Feeling of obligation to behave in environmentally friendly way

Proenvironmental behaviour:

  • Activism
  • Public sphere nonactivism
  • Private sphere
  • In organizations

Approaches to behavioural change

Con: Values are often pretty resistent to change

Con: Many agents influence one's attitudes

Con: Behavior is guided by many external factors

Con: Often hard to achieve

Factors that influence behaviours:

  • Attitudes
  • Context
  • Capacities
  • Habits

Paul Stern (2000) Toward a theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 3, 407-424

Have environmental attitudes changed over time?

While some are disappointed and skeptic, specific things have changed

Trends:

  • Proenvironmental trend 1960s-1990s
  • Stabilization or slight decline since

Also, proenviromental behaviour is not only a matter of psychology:

  • Economy
  • Institutions
  • Availability of alternatives

To conclude, humans have special bonds with animals

the primary scientific question: WHY?

Two basic categories of mental dispositions:

1 Cognitions (today)

2 Emotions (Thursday)

Strong oppositions for potential solutions to these problems

Thus: A need to understand human thought and reasoning about wildlife, in order to find acceptable solutions and devise successful communication

Cognitions:

Mental dispositions that are used in perceiving, remembering, thinking, and understanding

Cognitions exits on different levels of abstraction:

"World consists of matter" is more abstract then "This tree is an oak"

Values: desirable end states, modes of conduct, or qualities of life that we individually or collectively find important

  • E.g. honesty, freedom, respect
  • Values have no object
  • Someone's basic values don't change much
  • Socialization during formative years is crucial
  • Don't explain much variability
  • Don't dictate behaviour

Wildlife value orientations: schematic networks of basic beliefs that give direction and meaning to fundamental values in the domain of wildlife

2 Primary wildlife value orientations:

1 Mutualism

2 Domination

Attitudes: mental dispositions to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object or event.

E.g.: Attitudes towards killing geese that damage agriculture by professional managers in Wageningen in Spring 2011

Wildlife value orientations

Appropriate Use Beliefs

  • Humans should manage fish and wildlife populations so that humans benefit.
  • The needs of humans should take priority over fish and wildlife protection.
  • It is acceptable for people to kill wildlife if they think it poses a threat to their life.
  • It is acceptable for people to kill wildlife if they think it poses a threat to their property.
  • It is acceptable to use fish and wildlife in research even if it may harm or kill some animals.
  • Fish and wildlife are on earth primarily for people to use.

Domination

Hunting Beliefs

  • We should strive for a world where there's an abundance of fish and wildlife for hunting and fishing.
  • Hunting is cruel and inhumane to the animals.
  • Hunting does not respect the lives of animals.
  • People who want to hunt should be provided the opportunity to do so.

Social Affiliation Beliefs

  • We should strive for a world where humans and fish and wildlife can live side by side without fear.
  • I view all living things as part of one big family.
  • Animals should have rights similar to the rights of humans.
  • Wildlife are like my family and I want to protect them.

Mutualism

Caring Beliefs

  • I care about animals as much as I do other people.
  • It would be more rewarding to me to help animals rather than people.
  • I take great comfort in the relationships I have with animals.
  • I feel a strong emotional bond with animals.
  • I value the sense of companionship I receive from animals.

Predictive value

The concept of wildlife value orientations is scientifically and practically interesting if it predicts specific thought

WVO's are found to predict (up to 50%):

  • behaviours (e.g. hunting, fishing)
  • intentions (e.g. anticipated wildife viewing)
  • norms (e.g. accepting lethal control)
  • attitudes (e.g. favouring reintroduction of wolves in Rocky Mountains in Colorado

E.g. questionnaire measures:

  • Acceptance of management actions
  • Different animals
  • Different levels of problem situations
  • Different levels of severity of actions

change

Studies suggest societal change towards mutualism as societies:

Similarities with previous concepts

Mutualism-Domination continuum seems equivalent to:

functional to wilderness images of nature

anthropocentric to biocentric environmental values

Study:

Jacobs et al. (2011)

Human Dimensions of Wildlife

Emotions form the basis for attraction to wildlife, wildlife related activities, and conflicts over wildife

Thus, if we are to understand and explain human responses to and thought about wildlife, we must understand emotions

why is that?

Emotions have emerged in the course of evolution as adaptations

This only works if emotions take over control!

Emotions are pervasive and form an important basis for human mental and behavioural functioning

Normally, we stop whatever we're doing during an emotion and attend to the emotion and its cause

Emotions guide:

  • motivation
  • action tendencies
  • behaviours
  • thought
  • perception

Physiological responses, e.g:

  • increased heart beat
  • sweating
  • blushing
  • adrenaline release

Behavioural tendencies, e.g:

  • approaching/avoiding
  • fight or flight
  • freeze

Emotional experiences

core affects:

1 valence

2 arousal

discrete feelings,

e.g. sad, happy, angry

emotionally laden thought

general working of emotions is applicable to many domains of research, e.g. landscape preferences, bonds with nature, human wildlife interactions

Study:

Jacobs (2009) Why do we like or dislike animals?

Since spatial planning/design ultimately changes local places

  • Dwellers
  • Recreationists
  • Farmers
  • Tourists
  • Representatives of professional organisations (e.g. nature conservation agencies)

e.g. opposing or accepting an intervention

Planners and architects who do not take sense of place into account are producing landscapes for places without people

Are definitions important?

1 Yes: we must know what we're talking about

2 No: Ultimately, measurement counts

Connotative definition

(Analytical definition is typically the end result of years of research)

E.g. Lightning is the light you see when you hear thunder

Lightning is caused by electrical discharge of the air onto the earth, resulting in bright flashes of light.

My advice:

Don't get involved in pseudo-debates about definitions

In the literature, lots of different more restrictive definitions can be found

E.g.1:

Sense of place is restricted to those having first hand experiences of places for a long time

E.g.11:

Sense of place must be constituted by emotional bonds

E.g. if accepting restriction 1: one has to invent a new term to denote somebody's sense of the Mount Everest, and one has not solved any substantial issue at all.

Sense of the wilderness

Sense of gas stations

Sense of Wageningen

Sense of De Veluwe

In my view, this reasoning is nonsense

Compare:

  • Every human body is one whole and unique
  • Hence, a physiology of humans is impossible

Key features

exitential outsider to existential insider (Relph)

Level of attachment (Shamai)

Inductive categories:

  • identifying primary place meaning categories on the basis of an open approach

Sense of place as part of bigger picture

Stedman and Jorgensen have operationalized sense of place into three sets of items

Confirmatory factor analysis reveals validity of these components

Place meanings:

  • What does this place mean to you?
  • How would you characterize this place?
  • How important do you regard this place for yourself?
  • What activities do you perform at this place?
  • What are your favorite characteristics of thisplace?
  • Are you satisfied with this place?
  • Do you experience any problems with respect to this place?
  • Do you feel connected to this place?

Spatial interventions that bypass senses of place of stakeholders are increasingly likely to fail

Differences in sense of place are an important source of conflict over places

How to deal with non-residents?

MORE?

Study:

  • Jacobs & Buijs (2011) Place meanings
  • Williams & Stewart (1998) Sense of place

Today's focus:

1 development

2 culture

nested

questions

Newborn babies are absolutely egocentric

Almost everything we know and can is learned

Hardly any seperation between me and environment

Savannah landscapes prefered by young children; gradually, own landscape gets prefered

These innate preferences may exist in the sensomotor stage; innate emotions towads animals as well

Environment is something out there, to be fully employed to one's own satisfaction

transformation from active to passive

Environment is populated with animated things, and experienced and enacted upon by others as well

Environment extends beyond the directly experienced

Cultural influence at different levels

Global level: technological and economic circumstances

Inglehart

National level: value structures in cultures

Hofstede

Schwartz

Institutional level:

Laws and customs within subcultures

(e.g. farmers - ecologists)

Group level:

shared meanings and attitudes

Study:

Buijs et al (2009) No wilderness for immigrants

Measures:

1 Images of nature

2 Landscape preferences

Immigrants and non-immigrants

environmental psychology studies interactions between people and environment at the level of the individual mind

experiential qualities of the landscape are increasingly important in western societies

Berlyne's arousal theory is a general theory of aesthetics.

Early environmental psychologists have adopted this theory as a framework for their research.

Two primary concepts:

  • arousal
  • hedonic value

These are according to theorists:

  • fairly complex landscapes
  • faily mysterious landscapes
  • i.e. optimum between order and chaos

Appleton

landscape = habitat

humans are predators and prey, hence, seeing without being seen is optimal.

We prefer landscapes with prospect and refuge opportunities.

Kaplan & Kaplan

We need knowledge in order to survive in an environment.

Hence, we prefer landscapes that enable us to gather knowlegde.

images of nature approach 1: Keulartz et al.

Images of nature comprise 3 components

Continuum from untouched to man-made

Continuum from hands off to intensive management

Continuum from wild to well-kept

images of nature approach 2: Buijs

Value

Belief

Norm theory

changing behaviour

1 Moral appeal:

try to act on values

2 Education: try to change attitudes

3 Rewards and penalties: try to change behavior

4 Community management: influence collective norms

Principles for behavioural change:

  • use multiple approaches
  • understand the actors
  • try to act upon groups
  • adopt joint decision making

Spatial planning/design is a form of social planning

Sense of place comes into play

Simple and liberal connotative definition:

Sense of place is the total set of meanings a person assigns to a place

"Mysterians":

  • Sense of place is a holistic concept that varies with person, culture, place and context.
  • Therefore, sense of place can not be broken down analytically.

How do we get from a virtually blank mind to a mind loaded with cognitions and emotions related to the enviroment?

How does culture influence human-environment interactions and how do groups differ?

And:

Nature and health, restoration, and children by Agnes van den Berg

various studies indicate that nature has a positive influence on mental and physical health

Study for exam:

1 all lectures

2 literature

  • Bell et al. (1996) Environmental Psychology, chapter 1, sections 1 and 2 (Why study environmental psychology and what is environmental psychology)
  • Bell et al. (1996) Environmental Psychology, chapter 2
  • Jacobs (2006) Production of mindscapes, chapters 2 and 3
  • Hartig et al. (2010) Health benefits of nature
  • Buijs (2008) Lay people's images of nature
  • Stern (2000) Theory of environmental behavior
  • Jacobs et al. (2011) Human dimensions of wildlife
  • Jacobs (2009) Why do we like or dislike animals
  • Jacobs & Buijs (2011) Place meanings and attitudes
  • Williams & Stewart (1998) Sense of place
  • Buijs et al. (2009) Images of nature among immigrants

exam format

  • open ended questions
  • 4 or 5 subjects
  • 4 questions per subject
  • factual question
  • question about theory or concept
  • question to use knowledge straightforwardly to explain something
  • question to explain something that can be explained by creative thinking, even if you don't know the specific material

E.g. Who formulated the preference matrix?

E.g. Name three predictors of landscape preference according to the preference matrix

E.g. According to the adaptive approach, humans have innate landscape preferences. Why do we have innate preferences?

E.g. In recent debates concerning livestock in the Netherlands, many people indicate they would like to see more cows in meadows, instead of in stables. Why could people like to see cows in meadows?

  • pencil and paper exam
  • answer boxes
  • give short and specific answers

thanks for your attention and good luck with the exam

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

overview

introduction to environmental psychology

images of nature

Human dimensions of wildlife part 1: cognitions

Sense of Place

Example

person A

person B

Behaviour

joining hunting association

joining party for animal rally

consequences

pro-hunting

anti-hunting

Attitude

theoretical approaches

Behaviours

what is environmental psychology?

  • Numerous
  • Faster to change
  • Periphecal
  • Specific to situations

humans are free to consume animals

Value orientation

animals are free to walk around

Intentions

history of human-nature relationships

Attitudes

Wildlife tourism

freedom

Value

it affects people:

Value orientations

Values

  • behaviours
  • opportunities and constraints
  • daily experiences
  • Few
  • Slow to change
  • Central
  • Transcend situations

nature as enemy

  • Estimated between 100 and 200 million international arrivals in 1994
  • This segment is increasing drastically
  • Wildlife is a primary attraction in many countries, especially developing countries
  • Even the most remote areas are opened up for wildlife tourists

mastery over nature

After Middle Ages:

  • Scientific and technological advancements
  • Nature is measured and explored
  • Nature is concurred

Nature and health

prehistoric times, before the advent of agriculture

Definition

pets

definition of nature

cognitive

  • Humans have kept pets as companion animals for millennia
  • 63% of US citizens are pet owners; 400 million pets in US
  • Pets are associated with health benefits

part of nature

theory: cognitive hierarchy

beliefs about nature

characteristics of environmental psychology

image of nature

Even large scale planning is effective only if resulting in local interventions

Ultimately, spatial planning and design boil down to local interventions

values

sense of place

See chapter 1 in: Bell, PA, Greene, TC, Fischer, JD, Baum, AB (1996) Environmental Psychology. Fort Worth etc: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

zoos

normative

Psychology

1 Real life situations

extinction rates 1000 times higher

value orientations

10.000 years ago:

  • the advent of agriculture
  • in Middle east (probably currently Iraq)

3 Problem-oriented

social identity

development of new nature

personal identity

Roles of animals in our lives

Generic psychology uses seperate stimuli, EP studies naturalistic environments

Growing consensus that mastery comes to an end, e.g.:

  • climate change
  • natural disasters
  • human induced disasters
  • There are thousands of zoos in the world
  • There are millions of zoo visitors
  • There are billions of euro’s involved
  • (and a lot of design issues)

2 Two directions

relevance of the concept of sense of place

now?

unprecedented in history

Effect of humans on enviroment

Effect of environment on humans

Others have tried to identify patterns

4 Variety of methods

  • descriptive
  • correlational
  • experimental

Deductive components

  • increasing urban affluent population
  • not worried about sustenance needs
  • no daily contact with nature
  • concerned about belonging and aesthetic needs

Attachment (emotional bond)

Dependence (behavioural bond)

Identification (self-definition)

(Stedman and Jorgensen)

Mass media

meanwhile:

nature conservation profession is changing

Leisure near home

  • TV documentaries about animals are very popular
  • TV-channel “Animal Planet” is broadcasted in many countries

is

not:

psychology is:

place meanings

multiple meanings of landscape (environment/nature)

experts

communication

public informed management

cf. postmodern society

  • Animals contribute greatly to satisfaction of visiting local nature
  • Managers of parks facilitate animals and opportunities to view animals

beliefs about intervention

  • social science
  • studying individual level
  • study of behavior and mind

attitudes towards intervention

Wildlife Value Orientation

?

Problems:

questionnaire

enter:

  • insensitive to revealing other components
  • items without substantial content

research field characterized by:

Images of nature research

basics of perception

perception is the experience of the outer world in a meaningful way

  • theoretical and conceptual diversity
  • multi methods (semi-stuctured interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, content analysis)
  • however, some convergence in results

measurement and findings

outline of this course

See Chapter 2 in: Jacobs, MH (2006) The production of mindscapes: A comprehensive theory of landscape experience. Wageningen: Wageningen University

5 primary place meaning categories:

Social issues

Semi structured interviews:

consequences

proximity

Jacobs and Buijs have created a semi-structured interview measurement instrument

E.g.: wolves are endangered species

  • functionality
  • beauty
  • biodiversity
  • attachment
  • risk

E.g.:

  • About 50% finds killing problem geese acceptable
  • About 50% finds killing problem geese unacceptable

Week 1 Introduction and landscape perception

Week 2 Nature, health, and well being - Agnes van den Berg

Week 3 Images of nature and environmental attitudes

Week 4 Human dimensions of wildlife

Week 5 Sense of place

Week 6 Consequences and summary

Are more urbanized

similarity

closure

E.g.: connecting Oostvaardersplassen with Veluwe

Solving social issues:

  • Policy
  • Planning
  • Design
  • Management

what are images of nature?

E.g.: building a dike for herbivores to hide for wind

Are higher educated

columns

rows

Are wealthier

surroundedness

Exam: 21 April - study all lectures and all literature

Activities: reading, attending lectures, in-class research

Contact: maarten.jacobs@wur.nl

E.g.: shooting weak herbivores to prevent suffering

Does EP not study the truth?

Yes, but the truth about mind, not about landscape

Consequences

exam preparation

culture and development

landscape experience and preferences

environmental attitudes and behaviour

Human dimensions of wildlife part 2: emotions

high arousal

as societies become more affluent ...

visual quality assessment

... landscapes change rapidly ...

theory and measurement: TOP

Bodily reactions, e.g:

  • facial expressions
  • erection of body hair
  • making big or small

context

Children and the development of human-environment relationships

Implications

Importance of emotions

TOM =

expert-approach

e.g. 1 You can't create enviromental attitudes in young children

e.g. 2 Sense of place gets increasingly complex and changes in nature over the years

Theory Of Mind

But not liked by foreign tourists at all

E.g. polder landscapes often indicated as special by landscape architects, but also by tourism industry: most frequent landscape picture in tourist brochures

... people have more financial and psychological freedom to care for non-subsistance issues, such as aesthetics and identity.

ATTITUDE

Most famous attitude theory:

E.g.

It is highly unlikely you will continue contemplating a maths problem if a lion scares you

TOP

= mental disposition to favour or disfavour an object/person/situation/event with some degree

Emotions towards wildlife

Theory

Of

Planned Behavior

1 determining attitude object

Components of emotions

Icek Ajzen (http://people.umass.edu/aizen/)

Is oftentimes more difficult than people think

scared of lion

avoidance

4 data analysis

strength * evaluation for each item

add all scores to calculated attitude

2 eliciting relevant beliefs

  • Physiological reactions
  • Bodily reactions
  • Behavioural tendencies
  • Emotion experiences

E.g. Snakes are quickly detected, and even quicker by people with snake phobia

semi-structured interviews

survival

"What do you see as the advantages of creating room for rivers?"

"What do you see as the disadvantages of creating room for rivers?"

"How much do you agree or disagree with creating room for rivers?"

However, blind empirical research is nuts

3 questionnaire

Select the salient modal beliefs

Measure belief strength and evaluation

Components

Theory is needed to guide systematic research

environmental attitudes

Possible criticism on both arousal theory and preference matrix:

  • Relies on evolution theory, but is not very compatible with evolution theory
  • Evolution theory predicts that we are genetically predisposed to like things that enhanced survival of ancestors

In 1970s, new ideas about environment and ecology began to boil down from conservation and scientific communities to general public

Dunlap & van Liere

Culture

Berlyne

Working of emotions

trends in society

Not relevant

Reading:

  • Sections 4.1 - 4.5 in Production of mindscapes
  • Chapter 3 pp. 37 - 46 in Bell et al.

hedoniv value

Stern

Norms

Behaviours

Values

Beliefs

arousal level

VBN

Review questions:

  • What is a core assumption behind the adaptive approach to landscape preferences?
  • Name three landscape preference theories that fall within the adaptive approach, as well as the psychologists who developed these theories
  • Can you explain the arousal theory as applied to landscape preference?
  • Can you explain the preference matrix?
  • Can you explain the prospect refuge theory?
  • Do you think the view that landscape preferences are partly innate makes sense? Please provide arguments for your view.
  • How could the insights obtained by the adaptive approach be useful for piolicy makers, planners, designers and managers?

Environmental values:

  • Biospheric
  • Altruistic
  • Egoistic

Very general

(no context)

Very specific

(context)

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