Perspectives on Environment and Behavior

The inception of this volume can be traced to a series of Environmental Psychology Colloquia presented at the University of California, Irvine, dur­ ing the spring of 1974. These colloquia were held in conjunction with Social Ecology 252, a graduate seminar on Man and the Environment. Although the eight colloquia covered a wide range of topics and exemplified a diversity of research techniques, they seemed to converge on some common theoretical and methodological assumptions about the na­ ture of environment-behavioral research. The apparent continuities among these colloquia suggested the utility of developing a manuscript that would provide a historical overview of research on environment and be­ havior, a representation of its major concerns, and an analysis of its concep­ tual and empirical trends. Thus, expanded versions of the initial presen­ tations were integrated with a supplemental set of invited manuscripts to yield the present volume of original contributions by leading researchers in the areas of ecological and environmental psychology.

Section I. Introduction.- 1. Origins and Directions of Environment—Behavioral Research.- An Overview of Ecological and Environmental Psychology.- Ecological Psychology.- Environmental Psychology.- Toward an Integrated Field of Environment and Behavior.- Core Themes of Environment—Behavioral Research.- Directions for Future Research and Theoretical Development.- Summary.- References.- Section II. Ecological Psychology.- 2. Behavioral Ecology.- Some Background.- Some General Implications.- Defining Attributes of Behavioral Ecology.- Naturalism in Methodology.- Distributions of Phenomena.- Behavioral Focus.- Environment and Behavior.- Site Specificity and Place Dependencies.- Ecological Diagnosis.- Systems Concepts and Analogies.- Long Time Periods.- Taxonomy.- Molar Phenomena and Nonreductionism.- Transdisciplinary Emphasis.- Habitability.- Small Rates.- Evaluation of Natural Experiments.- Concluding Comments.- References.- 3. From Church to Laboratory to National Park: A Program of Research on Excess and Insufficient Populations in Behavior Settings.- Behavior Settings.- Manning Theory.- A Reformulation of the Manning Notions.- Questions for Research.- A Laboratory Study of Manning.- A Follow-up Laboratory Study of Manning.- Design, Equipment, and Procedure.- Dependent Variables.- Observation Scheme.- Subjects.- Results.- Effects of Manning Conditions.- Interrelationships Between Dependent Variables.- Conclusions from the Completed Research.- Focus on Service Behavior Settings.- Effects of Staffing and Population Levels on Occupants of Service Behavior Settings.- Conceptual Considerations.- Empirical Research.- Adaptive Mechanisms for Avoiding or Reducing Overpopulation of Service Behavior Settings.- Conceptual Considerations.- Empirical Research.- Postscript.- Acknowledgments.- References.- Section III. Environmental Psychology.- 4. Environmental Psychology: Origins and Development.- Environmental Psychology: Some History.- Factors Underlying the Emergence of Environmental Psychology.- Value-Methodological Properties of the Field.- The Future of Environmental Psychology: Some Analysis and Speculation.- Conferences.- References.- 5. Behavioral and Physiological Effects of Uncontrollable Environmental Events.- Noise and Task Performance.- Aftereffects of Unpredictable Noise.- Perceived Control over Noise.- Perceived Control and Helplessness.- Other Stressors.- Psychic Costs of Stress.- Uncontrollable Events and Coronary Heart Disease.- Pattern A and CHD.- Pattern A, Uncontrollable Events, and CHD.- Directions for Future Research.- Concluding Remarks.- References.- 6. Beyond the Effects of Crowding: Situational and Individual Differences.- Demographic Data.- Research on Crowding.- Determinants of the Effects of Crowding.- Crowding Effects as a Function of Architecture and Personal Territory.- Crowding Effects as a Function of Type of Activity.- Crowding Effects as a Function of Individual Differences.- Psychological Effects as a Function of Relationship to the Environment.- A Model of Social and Spatial Crowding Stresses.- Summary.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 7. Simulation Techniques in Environmental Psychology.- Varieties of Environmental Simulation.- Development of the Berkeley Environmental Simulation Laboratory.- Uses of Dynamic Perceptual Simulation.- The Environmental Decision-Maker as Applied Psychologist.- The Everyday Environment as a Complex, Multidimensional Entity.- Validation of the Berkeley Simulator.- Further Development and Application.- References.- Section IV. Applications of Behavioral Research to Environmental Design.- 8. Action Research.- References.- 9. From Congruence to Antecedent Conditions: A Search for the Basis of Environmental Improvement.- Congruence.- The Context of Man—Environment Relations I.- The Context of Man—Environment Relations II.- Acknowledgments.- References.- 10. Participation in the Design Process: A Cognitive Approach.- Problem Solving and the Expert.- On Some Intellectual Assets of Ordinary People.- Engaging the Human Capacity.- The Interface with Reality: Experimental Evidence.- Applications.- References.- 11. Preference and Everyday Nature: Method and Application.- The Case of the Roadside.- Conclusions and Implications.- The Case of the Drain.- Verbal and Visual Parallels.- Preference, Regional and “Universal”.- Familiarity: Another Factor in Preference.- Some Research Dos.- Data as a Form of Participation.- A Conceptual Grasp of the Environment.- References.- 12. Who Needs What When: Design of Pluralistic Learning Environments.- Internal—External Locus of Control.- The Relevance of Architecturally Oriented Research.- Designing for Environment—Behavioral Congruence in the Classroom.- References.- 13. The Relevance of Crowding Experiments to Urban Studies.- Why Experimentation?.- Theories of Urbanism.- The Role of Crowding Experiments.- Concluding Remarks.- Acknowledgments.- References.- Section V. Directions of Research on Environment and Behavior.- 14. Some Problems of Strategy in Environmental Psychology.- Theoretically Focused Views.- Problem-Centered Views.- Psychology and the Environmentalist Movement.- Psychology and the Man-Made Environment.- Concluding Comments.- References.- 15. Research on Environment and Behavior: A Personal Statement of Strategy.- The Perspective of Social-Unit Analysis.- Implementing a Social-Unit Analysis.- Case 1: Social-Isolation Studies.- Case 2: An Analysis of Home Environments (Altman, Nelson, and Lett, 1972).- Case 3: Dominance and Territorial Behavior (Sundstrom and Altman, 1974).- Case 4: Nonverbal Behavior and Acquaintanceship (Keiser and Altman, 1974).- Summary and Implications.- What a Social-Unit Analysis Is Not.- What Social-Unit Analysis Requires by Way of New or Expanded Skills.- A Capstone Thought.- References.- 16. Methodological Developments in Environment—Behavioral Research.- Theory and the Problem-Oriented Nature of the Area.- Methodological Threats to Theoretical Development.- Internal Validity.- Statistical-Conclusion Validity.- Construct Validity.- External Validity.- Experiential Realism.- Research Designs.- Quasi-Experimental Designs.- Experimental Designs.- Exploratory—Descriptive Designs.- Simulations.- Mathematical Modeling.- Cross-Cultural Designs.- Data-Collection Methods.- Observational Methods.- Self-Report Methods.- Environmental—Behavioral Research: The Future.- References.- Author Index.