Environment and Behavior Studies: Emergence of Intellectual Traditions

This eleventh volume in the series departs from the pattern of earlier volumes. Some of those volumes addressed research, design, and policy topics in terms of environmental settings, for example, homes, communities, neighborhoods, and public places. Others focused on environmental users, for example, chil­ dren and the elderly. The present volume examines the field of environment and behavior studies itself in the form of intellectual histories of some of its most productive and still visible senior participants. In so doing we hope to provide readers with a grand sweep of the field-its research and design content, methodology, institutions, and past and future trajectories-through the experiences and intellectual histories of its participants. Why intellectual histories? Several factors led to the decision to launch this project. For one, 1989 was an anniversary and commemorative year for the Environmental Design Research Association, perhaps the major and most long-standing interdisciplinary organization of environment and behavior re­ searchers and practitioners. Established in 1969, this organization has been the vehicle for generations of researchers and practitioners from many disciplines to come together annually to exchange ideas, present papers, and develop professional and personal relationships. It held its first and twentieth meetings in North Carolina, with the twentieth conference substantially devoted to dis­ cussions of the past, present, and future of the field-a taking stock, so to speak. Thus it seemed appropriate to launch a volume on intellectual histories at this significant juncture in the life of the field.

1 The Pursuit of Understanding: An Intellectual History.- How It All Began: People, Places, and Events.- Growing Disenchantment.- The Making of an Environmental Psychologist.- Concepts and Assumptions of an Environmental Psychologist.- Today and Tomorrow.- References.- 2 A Fish Who Studies Water.- Plan.- Early Academic Influences.- Orthogonal Lines.- University of California-Davis.- A Different Approach.- Choice of Topic.- Choice of Method.- Writing Style.- Dual Dissemination.- Consultation.- Problems and Frustrations.- Expert Witness as Hired Gun.- Future Directions.- References.- 3 Settings of a Professional Lifetime.- The 1928 Person.- Stanford University, 1929–1935.- Terman’s Seminar.- Miles’s Later Maturity Facility.- Stone’s Animal Laboratory.- University of Iowa, 1935–1937.- Lewin’s Offices.- Nursery School Laboratory.- Topology Meetings.- Harvard University, 1937–1938.- Murray’s Clinic.- Child Psychology Class.- Boring’s Sack Lunch.- University of Illinois, 1938–1942.- Study at Home.- Extension Classes.- Stanford University, 1942–1945.- Office of Disability Survey.- Clark University, 1946–1947.- University of Kansas, 1947–1972.- Office of Department Chairman.- Field Station in Oskaloosa.- Other Places, Other People.- Conclusion.- References.- 4 Science and the Failure of Architecture: An Intellectual History.- Why Intellectual Histories?.- Personal Background.- Chance and Places.- Chance—Times and Zeitgeist.- My View of Architecture.- My View of Environment-Behavior Studies (EBS).- Continuity in My Work.- Recent Work.- Conclusion.- References.- 5 From the Pragmatic to the Spiritual: An Intellectual Autobiography.- Immigration to the United States and Early Housing Research.- Teaching: The Early Years.- Consulting.- Beneath the Surface: The Environment as Metaphor.- Merging Academic and Personal Concerns.- Teaching: New Directions.- Introspection as Inspiration.- The New Paradigm.- Future Work.- References.- 6 Environmental and Personality Psychology: Two Collective Narratives and Four Individual Story Lines.- Collective Narrative I: The Invasion of the Paradigms in the Development of Environmental Psychology.- Individual Story Line: Observational Assessment of Environments.- Individual Story Line: Assessing Environmental Dispositions.- Collective Narrative II: Historical Fates of Personality Research Methods.- Individual Story Line. Field Studies in Personality: The Act Frequency Approach.- Individual Story Line: Naturalistic Observational Assessment and the Reputational Analysis of Personality.- Conclusions.- Influences upon Individual Story Lines.- Individual Story Lines and Collective Narratives.- Context in Environmental and Personality Psychology.- References.- 7 Paths toward Environmental Consciousness.- Some Cautions about Personal Accounts.- My New York Identity.- The Changing Paths.- Beyond the Institutions.- The Public Arena.- Dealing with Homelessness.- The New York Context.- With a View toward the Future.- References.- 8 Thinking...As Much Fun as Sex, Drugs, and Rock’n Roll.- A Quirky Mind That Spatializes Almost Everything.- Paying Attention to Patterns and People.- Not Much and Not Very Higher Education.- A Finishing School and Early Teaching.- Emphasizing Esthetics in Design.- Transition from a Paradigm of Esthetics to One of Users.- Emphasizing Psychosocial Needs of Users in Design.- Finding Some Useful Intellectual Tools.- Design/Research as a Business.- Transition from a Paradigm of Design/Research to One of Design as a Humanity.- Emphasizing Design as a Branch of the Humanities: Present Work.- Archetypes of Place and the Mythic Consciousness.- Public Life and Public Place: Ontology and Transformation.- A Summary of the History.- About the Making of This Intellectual History.- References.- 9 Toward a Transactional Perspective: A Personal Journey.- A Conceptual Framework.- Phase I: Psychological Processes as Complex and Holistic, with Dynamic Temporal Qualities (P,T,e).- Phase II: Physical Environment as an Aspect of Psychological Processes (P,E,t).- Phase III: The Unity of Places and Psychological Processes (E,P,t).- Phase IV: Temporal Qualities of Environmental Places (T,E,p) and Temporal Qualities of Psychological Processes (T,P,e).- Phase V: The Transactional Unity of Psychological Processes, Physical Environments/Places, and Temporal Factors (P,E,T).- Philosophical Analyses of World Views.- Research Methodology.- Sociological Analyses.- Empirical Research.- Retrospective and Prospective.- References.- 10 One Person-in-His-Environments.- Precursors.- General Factors.- The Sociocultural Context.- The Clark University Context.- Academic Background.- The General Approach.- Assumptions of the Perspective.- Predispositions toward Assumptions: People and Places.- Holism: Levels of Organization/Integration.- Constructivism.- Multiple Intentionality.- Definition of Environment/of Person.- Person-in-Environment as a Unit of Analysis.- Cognition, Affection, Valuation.- Developmental Analysis.- Teleological Directedness.- Planning.- Relations between Experience and Action.- Research Program on Critical Person-in-Environment Transitions.- Issues and Challenges for the Future.- Apologia.- References.- 11 Landscape Research: Planned and Serendipitous.- A Few Caveats.- The Paradigms.- 20–20 Hindsight.- From Teacher-Practitioner to Teacher-Researcher.- A Paradigm Shift.- An Emphasis on Research.- Cross-Cultural Studies.- Experiencing a New Landscape.- Riparian Landscapes.- Perceiving Landscape Change.- Looking Backward and Forward.- References.- 12 In Search of Objectives.- Early Days.- Office Size.- Room Meaning.- The Architectural Context.- Psychology for Architects.- The Japanese Experience.- Ethnoscapes.- Emerging Conceptualizations of Place.- A Student Quest.- The Theory of Place.- The Journal of Environmental Psychology.- Fire Research.- Building Evaluations.- Facet Theory.- Purposive Evaluation.- Place Goals.- A Developing Theory of Environmental (Social) Psychology.- The Feasibility of Application.- Embracing the “Media”.- Beyond Applicability.- Broadening Horizons.- References.- 13 An Environmental Psychologist Ages.- Basic versus Applied: Love of Humanity and Love of Knowledge.- Gerontology: Applied and Empirical.- Midcareer Gerontology: Interaction.- Basic Research, Applied Research, and Dissemination.- Theory and Empirics.- Person, Environment, and Transaction.- Present and Future Research.- Conclusion.- References.