INSTITUT FÜR PSYCHOLOGIE

 0P410 Environmental Psychology

Individual performance is not only a function of what people aspire (i.e., their motives) but also a result of what others want them to do. A third determinant of people's actions, which is often neglected, is the physical environment, in which or in interaction with which people's performance takes place. Environmental psychologists seek to better understand, in particular, the relationship between people's behavior and their physical surrounding. When trying to find explanations, environmental psychologists primarily stress the social and the psychological (i.e., the subjective) significance of an objective environment or some aspects of it. However, people's behavior is generally shaped by both, the subjective and the physical properties of an environment. The course will cover some specific environments, such as homes and cities, and their damaging as well as their advantageous psychological effects. Students will hear about environmental perception, which environments people appreciate, and about the reasons for people's affiliation with places.

After successful completion of the course, the student

• has acquired a basic understanding of the structure, scope, and methodologies of the discipline of environmental psychology
• has acquired a basic understanding of concepts and explanations in environmental psychology and environment-behavior research.
• has acquired a basic understanding of the most popular theoretical heuristics in environmental psychology, and is able to apply these heuristics to various environment-behavior related problems
• can search for and appraise empirical evidence presented in the environmental psychological literature, and is able apply this evidence to environment-behavior related problems.