Introduction to Environmental Psychology
Environmental Problems and Resource Management
Environmental psychology is the study of human behavior and well-being in relation to the large-scale, sociophysical environment. The term, large-scale environment, refers to places such as homes, offices, neighborhoods, and whole communities. These places can be described in terms of several physical and social dimensions, including their geographical location, architectural design, membership and social organization. The term, sociophysical environment, reflects the assumption that the physical and social dimensions of places are closely intertwined. The architectural design of a housing complex, for example, can exert a subtle but substantial impact on the friendship patterns that develop among residents. This course emphasizes the interdependence between physical and social aspects of places, rather than viewing these dimensions as separate and isolated.
How are people affected by overcrowding, traffic congestion, and noise? Why do people litter or vandalize their environments? How do buildings affect their occupants? Why do people consume scarce environmental resources? How can we change these patterns of consumption? How can we design sustainable environments? These are some of the questions that have concerned environmental psychologists.
Environmental Problems
A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well-being depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in an environment more in keeping with human needs and hopes …
To defend and improve the human environment for present and future generations has become an imperative goal for mankind. From the Declaration of the UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972), para. 6)
Management of Resources
Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
A world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always be prone to ecological and other crises. … Sustainable development requires that societies meet human needs both by increasing productive potential and by ensuring equitable opportunities for all.
Many of us live beyond the world's ecological means, for instance in our patterns of energy use. … At a minimum, sustainable development must not endanger the natural systems that support life on Earth: the atmosphere, the waters, the soils, and the living beings.
In essence, sustainable development is a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development; and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations.
— from the Brundtland Report, “Our Common Future”
Welcome!
This site is an ongoing project of Dr. Perla A. Vargas and her students in Environmental Psychology at New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, AY 2013-2014.
© 2013-2014 Please give credit to authors when citing. The viewpoints expressed on this site are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of ASU.
