Environmental Psychology: An Introduction

Whether made up of concrete skyscrapers or ancient redwoods, the environment influences people′s lives in many ways; reciprocally, this environment is in many ways a product of human activity. The most up–to–date introductory textbook on its subject, Environmental Psychology: An Introduction provides a valuable overview of the interplay between humans and their varied environments. A response to the growing interest in environmental psychology as a way to promote sustainable environments, this text incorporates the work of over fifty well–known scholars to examine this increasingly important area. Environmental Psychology addresses questions of how environments affect humans, what motivates people to act pro–environmentally, and how humans can be encouraged to establish and maintain a sustainable environment. The book discusses both environmental factors that threaten and promote human wellbeing, and elaborates on a wide range of factors influencing actions that affect environmental conditions, including contextual factors, motivational factors and habits. Furthermore, the book demonstrates ways to encourage pro–environmental behaviour including information strategies, incentives and persuasive technology, and describes factors influencing the acceptability of environmental policies. Environmental Psychology provides an international approach, including non–Western and developing countries, and offers comprehensive reviews of key research lines in environmental psychology.

1 Environmental psychology: History, scope and methods 1 PART I ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR AND WELL–BEING 13 2 Environmental risk perception 15 3 Environmental stress 27 4 Scenic beauty: Visual landscape assessment and human landscape perception 37 5 Health benefits of nature 47 6 Restorative environments 57 7 Ambivalence towards nature and natural landscapes 67 8 Human dimensions of wildlife 77 9 Appraisals of built environments and approaches to building design that promote well–being and healthy behaviour 87 10 Urban environmental quality 97 11 Environment and quality of life 107 12 How cues in the environment affect normative behaviour 119 PART II FACTORS INFLUENCING ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR 129 13 Measuring environmental behaviour 131 14 Values and pro–environmental behaviour 141 15 Social norms and pro–environmental behaviour 153 16 Affective and symbolic aspects of environmental behaviour 165 17 Social dilemmas: Motivational, individual and structural aspects influencing cooperation 175 18 Models to explain environmental behaviour 185 19 Yesterday′s habits preventing change for tomorrow? The influence of automaticity on environmental behaviour 197 20 Environmental psychology in Latin America 211 PART III ENCOURAGING PRO–ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOUR 221 21 Informational strategies to promote pro–environmental behaviour: Changing knowledge, awareness and attitudes 223 22 Encouraging pro–environmental behaviour with rewards and penalties 233 23 Persuasive technology to promote pro–environmental behaviour 243 24 Acceptability of environmental policies 255 25 Processes of change 267 26 Simulating social environmental systems 281 27 Environmental issues in developing countries 293 28 Conclusion: Summary, trends and future perspectives in environmental psychology 303 References 315 Glossary 355 Index 371

Linda Steg is professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She has written extensively on factors influencing environmental behaviour, effects and acceptability of environmental policies, and the impact of environmental conditions on quality of life. She is the current president of the Environmental Psychology Division at the International Association of Applied Psychology. Agnes E. Van den Berg is an environmental psychologist, specialising in research on people′s responses to natural environments. She has published in both the academic and popular press on topics such as landscape preferences, health benefits of nature, children and nature and evidence–based design of healing environments. She has worked at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands in a variety of roles for 15 years and has recently been appointed as a special professor of landscape perception at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. J udith I. M. de Groot is a senior lecturer in Applied Psychology at Bournemouth University, UK. She received her PhD at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Her research interests include explaining and changing pro–environmental behaviours, with a focus on how values and norms affect pro–environmental behaviour.

“This book is an interesting change from the usual run of introductions to environmental psychology.  It deals interesting and thoroughly with a wide range of issues, and generally the many authors present their views and accounts of research in a clear and easy–to–follow manner.”  ( Psychology Learning & Teaching , 1 November 2013)