Environmental psychology's emergence and future security as a discipline
This is a chapter summary, using a bulleted format as well as some full sentences to describe Chapter 42 in a book about environmental psychology. The book is called handbook of environmental psychology, volume 2 ed by Stokols and Atlman. this chapter is about the field, its paradigms, its past, present, and future, its theoretical orientation, methods, views.
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¶ … Environmental Psychology: Securing its Future" by Harold M. Proshansky
Relatively young field, is it secure?
Epistemology: study or theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge
How did field begin, where is it going?
Environmental Psychology: Yesterday and Today
Yesterday
Empiricism -- theory of relying on observation, experiment, experience
Positivism -- theory that considers religion, metaphysics imperfect means, and relies on natural phenomenon and empirical sciences
Field developed in 1960s during social and political upheavals
But even before, after WWII -- new structures built, rapid growth -- increased research in social psychology, emphasis on attitude change, group processes, intergroup conflicts
Lewin (1948), Festinger, Schacter, and Back (1950) and Deutch (1949) students of Lewin (1948) -- began applying field theory conceptions to various social problems
Confluence of Forces
laboratory-experimental model but failure to apply to real world -- leads to loss of credibility and "malaise" in the social sciences in 1960s and 1970s -- still absence of environmental psychology blatantly -- noisily elusive -- hard to understand
Emergence of Environmental Design / Psychology
Result of external factors put pressure on all behavioral sciences
Unprecedented growth of urban, suburban
Social psychologists playing more of a role
42.4.4: Environmental psychology today: Some properties purpose of research to resolve complex problems, contribute to individual well being, and the society methodology rooted in real world, where the problems occurred = contextual research -- examine real settings (no lab)
High unemployment in community takes longer to produce basic changes on sociophysical properties in the community than natural disaster or person-made disaster (internal v. external forces)
Fade = disappear in slow motion
42.3. Security the future sciences are social institutions; cannot escape politics, other forces like social issues-so there is greater demand for science to do something about environmental problems
42.3.1 Problem Oriented
-- Problems studied in ongoing real life context in which they occur
-- to understand and solve environmental problems -- concepts, principles must evolve from specific problems in the settings being studied this method is not guaranteed to be immune from same problems in laboratory research ie. One can mold and shape real-life events to fit a preconceived (a priori) model and therefore distort the events search for a cumulative body of knowledge can help provide solutions cumulative = increasing by addition humanistic social sciences try to use the laboratory too much, distorts view, can't measure attitudes in the lab eg the Kaplan (1977) study
Environmental Psychologist = rejects the search for universal and unifying principles to explain all environmental behavior and experience based on a model of the natural and physical sciences
42.3.2 Systems-Oriented (EXAM)
reject laboratory-experimental paradigm (paradigm = example, archetype, model)
cognizant of wide range of forces underlying environmental problems, cannot be satisfied with methodology that seeks to measure only a few parameters
Level I Research -- confined to study of environmentally relevant psych processes, structures, behaviors (eg privacy, territoriality, place-identity)
Level II -- more complex environmental problems (beyond the individual)
Need more systems analysis for Level I orientation, to show how the individual factors are part of the system -- this means it must be interdisciplinary -- cannot isolate variables, issues, behaviors
Goal is cumulative body of research over time
42.3.3. Interdisciplinary Orientation
Systems approach is necessary bc it is interdisciplinary field (collaboration with other behavioral, environmental sciences)
Linked with the behavioral sciences (psychology in relation to sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, ecology, demography)
Interspecialization collaboration (colleagues with developmental psych, work together)
But also architecture, design
Need interdisciplinary orientation to secure future of environmental psychology
42.3.4. Space over Time Orientation
traditionally researcher in psych eschews (avoids) time dimension when examining behavior but here need it -- life cycles
42.4. Final Comments
to stake out a space, need body of knowledge, become strong as social institution, critical role in all of psych
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