The Nature and Scope of Environmental Psychology: Theories and Methods

Flashcards covering key theoretical frameworks, stress models, behavioral concepts, paradigms, and research methods in environmental psychology based on Chapter 1.

Script

An ordinary or normal set of behaviors suggested by the broader social-cultural context for a specific place and time.

Stimulation Theories

A group of theories emphasizing the fundamental influence of the physical environment as a vital source of sensory information.

Adaptation-Level Theory

A theory developed by Harry Helson maintaining that individuals adapt to specific levels of stimulation in given contexts, and that stimulation differing from this level changes perceptions and behavior.

Overload Theory

A stimulation-based perspective that concentrates on the negative behavioral and cognitive effects of experiencing too much stimulation.

Restricted Environmental Stimulation Theory (REST)

A theory proposing that too little stimulation causes problems in some circumstances, but can yield positive results in others, such as improving performance on easy cognitive tasks.

Stress Theories

Approaches explaining the behavioral and health consequences that occur when environmental stimulation exceeds an individual's adaptive resources.

Acute Stressors

Negative, intense, and relatively short environmental impacts that are situated in the forefront of consciousness.

Ambient Stressors

Negative, chronic, and global environmental conditions that typically remain in the background of consciousness and seem difficult to alter.

Daily Hassles

Negative, non-urgent, and recurrent environmental stressors encountered in everyday life.

General Adaptation Syndrome

Hans Selye's physiological stress model describing a bodily sequence of responses from the pituitary and adrenal glands: first alarm, then resistance, followed by exhaustion.

Cognitive Appraisal

The psychological aspect of stress involving an individual's efforts to assess the seriousness of a situation and determine how to cope with the stressor.

Phenomenology

A form of careful contemplation aimed at understanding what a setting truly means, particularly to those who regularly spend time in it.

Boundary Regulation Mechanisms

Everyday social processes, such as personal space and territoriality, used by individuals to achieve personal control over stimulation patterns.

Psychological Reactance

An individual's attempt to regain personal freedom or control when it has been lost or restricted.

Learned Helplessness

The conviction that no amount of effort can succeed in overcoming an unpleasant or painful situation, resulting from a perceived inability to regain control.

Programs

Consistent, prescribed, and recurrent patterns of behavior in behavior setting theory that are regularly carried out by individuals occupying specific roles.

Overstaffing

A condition in behavior setting theory where too many individuals are present to participate in a setting's activities and the setting cannot exclude extra people.

Understaffing

A condition in behavior setting theory that occurs when too few individuals are attracted to fulfill the necessary roles and activities of a setting.

Human Interdependence Paradigm

A decision-making framework asserting that choices are made without certainty about environmental outcomes or their timing, recognizing that all individual choices mutually affect everyone.

Attitude-Behavior Theories

Theoretical perspectives predicting actions through attitudes composed of cognitive, affective, and conative components, incorporating constructs such as beliefs, values, norms, and intentions.

Geo-Behavioral Environment

Isidor Chein's 1954 integral framework consisting of instigators, goal objects and noxients, supports and constraints, directors, and the global environment.

Interactionism

An integral perspective viewing persons and environments as separate, distinct entities that are continually engaged in a series of mutual interactions.

Transactionalism

An integral approach emphasizing that person and environment are part of one inclusive entity, such that neither can be adequately defined without reference to the other.

Organismic Theories

Integral theories emphasizing the dynamic interplay of individual, social, and societal factors within a mutual, complex system of developmental equilibria.

Operant Approach

A theoretical method focusing on modifying specific environmental behaviors by applying immediate positive reinforcements when beneficial behavior is performed.

Conservation Psychology

A field modeled on conservation biology that investigates ecological issues with a specialized focus on the relationship between people and wild animals.

Ecopsychology

An approach popularized by Theodore Roszak focusing on spiritual and mental health bonds between people and the Earth, viewing the planet as a sacred, victimized living being.

Adaptation Paradigm

A broad paradigm in environmental psychology viewing biological and psychological survival as the core process underlying human perception, cognition, and stress coping.

Opportunity Structure Paradigm

A paradigm that regards the environment as a context where humans actively plan and take action to fulfill personal goals rather than merely reacting to environmental demands.

Sociocultural Paradigm

A paradigm recognizing that environmental psychology is nested within broader contexts, meaning historical, cultural, economic, and societal forces must be examined.

External Validity

The degree to which the findings of an empirical investigation apply to settings and contexts beyond the specific one in which the data were collected.

Field Experiment

A study conducted in an everyday real-world setting where the researcher controls major independent variables and randomly assigns participants to conditions.

Quasi-Experimental Design

A research design that resembles a true experiment but accepts practical compromises, such as an inability to achieve random assignment or full experimental control over independent variables.