Assignment Code: BPCE-143/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPCE-143

Assignment Name: ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

NOTE: All questions are compulsory.

Assignment One

2 x 20 = 40

Answer the following descriptive category questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks.

1. Define environmental psychology? Discuss its relationship with other disciplines.

Ans) Environmental psychology works on two different levels with the environment. It looks at both the environment and the situation in which people act. At one level, environmental psychology is the study of how the environment affects what people can do and how they can do it. It looks at the ways that people's behaviour and mood are affected by the things in their environment. Environmental psychology's biggest strength is that it looks at behaviour and the environment from different perspectives and recognises that the two are linked. Environmental psychology doesn't try to make things too easy. Instead, it gives us a framework of different points of view, research, and theories that help us understand how people and the environment interact. Even though there are no clear-cut answers, we may be able to use bits and pieces of the work to make the physical space better fit human needs.

Environmental Psychology and General Psychology

Environmental psychology is the study of how noise, crowding, heat, etc., affect people's behaviour, health, and feelings. General psychology is a much broader branch of psychology that looks at different rules that can be applied to all people. This is very different from the other specialised sub-fields of psychology, which are more interested in how people are different based on different things.

Environmental Psychology and Biological Sciences

In 1956, the Research Commission of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) asked the National Science Foundation (NSF) to hold a conference on the relationship between the physical, biological, and social sciences and the problems of making the best environments for people to do things. The conference was held at the University of Michigan in 1959, and the main topic was how the physical, biological, and social sciences relate to each other when it comes to making the best environments for people to do things in.

Environmental Psychology and Human Engineering

Human engineering is a field that draws from many different fields, such as psychology, engineering, industrial design, anthropometry, and more. It looks at the things that make people good at what they do. In human engineering, the human factor is an aspect of a person's body that is unique to that person and determines how well the environment works for that person. The goal of human factors is to improve operational performance, safety, and other things by looking at how people interact with the world around them.

Environmental Psychology and Community Psychology

Community psychology looks at how people are affected by their social environment, while environmental psychology looks at how people are affected by their physical environment. Community and environmental psychology are the study of social processes in physical settings, as well as the psychology of social settings like the home, workplace, and school. Bronfenbrenner's ecological approach to human development from 1989 has helped us learn more about how the qualities of one type of environment, like a family, are affected by other parts of a person's life, like their job or school.

Environmental Psychology and Architectural Psychology

Environmental psychology and architectural psychology are similar in many ways. In the US, a group led by Ittelson and Proshansky looked at how the design of buildings affects how psychiatric patients act. At the same time, other psychologists and psychiatrists in the United States and other countries were working on similar research projects.

2. What is a cognitive map? Explain the methods of studying cognitive mapping.

Ans) A cognitive map is a mental representation of the physical environment, including key parts of the environment, their relative locations, and other information that helps a person get around. According to the American Psychological Association, a cognitive map is "a mental understanding of an environment that is formed through trial and error as well as observation. The idea is based on the idea that a person actively looks for and collects contextual clues, such as relationships in the environment, instead of being a passive receiver of information needed to reach a goal. People and other animals have well-developed cognitive maps that help them orient themselves and find their way in the real world. These maps also include symbolism and meaning.

Methods of Studying Cognitive Mapping

Many new ways to study cognitive mapping have been made possible by the fast pace of change in technology and visualisation techniques. One of the most popular methods that has stood the test of time is Kevin Lynch's sketch map method. Some of the other things that have been done are giving distance estimates, making lists of things in a certain area, finding your way around an environment, etc.

Brain Imaging Techniques

Electroencephalogram (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and positron emission tomography (PET) scans are used to study the neural correlates of cognitive mapping and wayfinding. Head & Isom (2010) and Etchamendy & Bohbot (2007) used MRI scans to confirm what earlier brain lesion studies had found: that the hippocampus is involved in wayfinding, while the caudate nucleus is involved in learning routes.

Virtual Reality

Immersive virtual reality (VR) is often thought to be like the real world, and VR can be used to study how people find their way in simulated environments to reduce design mistakes. Researchers at the University of Reading, Ewart and Johnson (2021), asked people to do a task that required them to find their way around a familiar building both in real life and in virtual reality. The study showed that both the route and the time it took to finish the task got better. In another wayfinding study that used VR Irshad, Perkis and Azam (2021) looked at how users felt in a VR environment that made them feel like they were there.

Space Syntax

In the 1980s, Bill Hillier and his team at University College London came up with this method (Hillier and Hanson 1984; Hillier et al. 1987). It connects geometric properties like line of sight, visual perception, etc. with human behaviours like movement and occupation to make a graphical representation of space. Then, these graphical representations can be analysed quantitatively to find out what role each spatial element plays in how the system is set up as a whole or in its parts.

Geographic Information System

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system for tagging and coding spatial information, displaying it visually, and analysing it to figure out patterns and how they work together. Any point on the surface of the earth with a latitude, longitude, PIN code, ZIP code, or address can be put into the GIS. This information can then be used to analyse, compare, and contrast different geographical locations and the sociodemographic traits of the people who live there.

Assignment Two

3 x 10 = 30

Answer the following middle category questions in about 250 words each. Each question carries 10 marks.

3. Explain behaviour constraint theory in environmental psychology.

Ans) Most of the behavioural constraint perspective comes from Brehm's theory of psychological reactance and Sommer's concept of personal space from 1969. Brehm's theory is about situations in which a person realises that they no longer have the freedom to do a certain behaviour. When a person thinks that their freedom to act in a certain way is being limited, they should feel psychological reactance, which is a state of motivation that includes feelings of pre-emption and infringement and leads to actions that try to restore the threatened freedom. Sommer's idea of personal space, an "invisible emotionally charged zone" around each person into which others may not come, is similar to the idea of reactance. Personal space is based on each person's needs and the rules of the situation, which set the limits of a comfortable interaction distance. When spatial needs and norms aren't met, a reactance-like pattern of emotional distress should happen, followed by changes in behaviour that try to protect personal space.

According to this model, the feeling of being crowded is caused by the interaction of physical, social, and personal factors. All of these factors work together to make the person more aware of the real potential limits of having limited space. As long as a constraint is there, it is an obstacle that makes it hard to get the behaviour that is wanted. Because of this, people tend to develop a sense of helplessness when they keep failing at a task even though they keep trying to control the things that are holding them back. See behavioural contagion. The theory of constraints (TOC) is a management paradigm that says that a small number of constraints prevent any manageable system from reaching more of its goals.

4. Differentiate between personal space and privacy. Discuss the determinants of personal space.

Ans) "Never get in your neighbour’s personal space" is one of the most important rules of social behaviour. To put it simply, we all need a private place to sit, think, study, sleep, or just relax. This is a place where we can be alone and think about ourselves. A person's personal space is the area around them that they mentally think of as "their turf." Most people like having their own space and feel uncomfortable when a stranger gets too close to them while they're talking. This can make them angry or anxious. People's feelings about the comfort and quality of their environment are affected by things like privacy, personal space, and territorial behaviour. Everyone needs privacy, personal space, and a place to call their own.

Determinants of Personal Spacing

Physiological Factor

Adolphs et al. (2009) say that our sense of personal space starts to develop when we are 3 or 4 years old and is fully formed by the time, we are teenagers. In the 2009 issue of Nature, he wrote that this strange sense is built and controlled by the amygdala, a part of the brain that is involved in feeling fear. When someone comes into our space, it makes forces that push them away.

Cultural Factor

All cultures use personal space to talk to each other, but Hall (1959) pointed out that different cultures need different amounts of personal space to protect their comfort zones. Some cultures, like those in the Middle East or Latin America, are what he calls "contact cultures."

Circumstantial or Situational Factor

Different situations can change a person's need for personal space. As we've seen in the Unit, it's not a big deal to have a lot of people in a crowded place like a fare or a premiere of a new movie.

5. Identify the causes of global warming. Discuss the impact of global warming and climate change on the ecosystem and human beings.

Ans) Both "global warming" and "climate change" refer to the rise in average temperatures around the world. Since the beginning of time, these things have happened because the Earth's atmosphere has warmed up and cooled down at different times. Since the sun is what keeps the Earth warm, it makes sense to think that our home star may be one cause of global warming. Even though the amount of energy coming from the sun changes and may have caused warming in the past, NASA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have ruled this out as a cause of the current warming trend. Since the Industrial Revolution, people have been getting energy by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil, which puts carbon dioxide into the air. A quarter of this is used for heat and electricity, and the other quarter is used for other industrial processes and transportation. This includes cars, trucks, trains, and planes that run on gasoline or diesel.

Climate change is mostly a scientific issue that poses a high risk to people and social systems. It is also likely one of the most controversial issues because of how uncertain the science is. The theory of climate change says that a rise in the average temperature of the Earth (called "global warming") could change the weather around the world. Climate change is more than just global warming because the rise in average temperature is only one sign of bigger changes like extreme temperatures, drought, flooding, storms, rising sea levels, effects on food production, and infectious diseases. Even so, people often call the rise in the average temperature of the earth "climate change" instead of "global warming." But climate change is different in different places because it is more than just a rise in temperature.

Assignment Three

5 x 6 = 30

Answer the following short category questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 6 marks.

6. Computer simulation method as a research method in environmental psychology

Ans) Sometimes it's not possible to use real people or real things in the environment in the study. Two examples are studies that involve thousands of people to learn about complicated systems and studies that look at how people think about the environment in the future. Because of this, environmental psychologists are turning to environmental simulations more and more. This type of research tries to make exact and realistic copies of environments and/or people. Simulations include computer-made immersive virtual environments that give people a realistic idea of what it would be like to be in certain places or go through certain events, 3D visualisations of data in Geographical Information Systems, or agent-based models of land use or resource use.

7. Territoriality and aggression

Ans) The word "aggressive" comes from the Latin word "aggressio," which means "to attack." Aggression is also a hostile, forceful action or behaviour that can be shown physically, symbolically, or through words. People often use violence to protect themselves. It is hard to find ways to study invasion of territory and aggression that are ethically sound, but research has shown that these two things are related. The stronger a person's response would be if someone came into their territory, the longer their territory had been there. How a person reacts to these different types of infringements can also depend on things like who did the infringement, what kind of territory was violated, and so on.

8. Characteristics of slums

Ans)

1. Houses in slums are made of scraps because they are old and poor. These are often grown on land that is not allowed to do so.

2. When there are a lot of people and places to live, there are a lot of people and traffic jams.

3. There aren't enough public facilities like drains, toilets, water taps, electricity, health care, etc.

4. The people who live in slums are functionally part of the rest of the city, but most of them are involved in crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, drug use, begging, things that are illegal, etc.

5. Most slums are ignored and ignored by the rest of the community. People don't like these places very much, so people tend to stay away from them. This makes it so that people who live in slums have to make almost no effort to improve their lives.

9. Environmental toxicology

Ans) Environmental Toxicology There is a cause-and-effect link between being exposed and getting sick. Toxicological tests help with chemical risk assessment, which is a quantitative estimate of what might happen to people and the environment if they were exposed to different kinds of chemicals (for example, pesticide residues in food, pollutants in water). Because of how much our society depends on chemicals and how many different kinds of chemicals are in the environment, it is important to figure out what bad things could happen. Toxicology is becoming an increasingly important part of the decision-making process. Environmental toxicology is a branch of science that is becoming more important because of how globalisation and industrialization affect people and the environment.

10. Climate change and mental health

Ans) The effects of climate change on mental health are bad. The risk to mental health from climate change is the WHO's first global research priority. Evidence suggests that psychological distress, anxiety, and grief are growing as an indirect effect of climate change. These feelings can happen even in people who haven't experienced any direct negative effects. This idea of climate or ecological anxiety and grief has a wide range of effects because of how many people are now aware of climate change because of technology-based communication. Climate change is a serious, ongoing, and global threat that is mostly marked by uncertainty and a lack of understanding. Because of this, it makes sense that people who feel afraid or out of control would feel anxious and sad.