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environmental psychology  

Definition

  • Why is it so traumatic to be confronted with a burglary in one's own home? Why, in spite of a wide consensus concerning the necessity to protect our environment, do so few people really engage in conservation behaviors? Why, in the same city, are there clean and secure neighborhoods and nearby run-down and dangerous ones? Why do people insist on returning to their destroyed homes after a natural disaster in spite of the dangers? Why is living in cities seen as so stressful? Why are natural environments so restorative? All these questions can be answered only by looking at the relationship the individual has with the environment in which he or she lives; these are the concerns of environmental psychology. It is therefore not surprising that the discipline emerged in the 1970s, as a response to questions about the architectural layout of psychiatric wards and the fit between building design and users' needs. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Psychology; Environmental Psychology]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/environmental_psychology

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