Perspectivas en la investigación sobre preferencia ambiental: tiempo, categorías y realidad

Este texto constituye una versión revisada de la conferencia pronunciada por el Dr. Henk Staats en las III Jornadas de Psicología Ambiental, celebradas en Sevilla del 6 al 8 de noviembre de 1991, organizadas por la Agencia de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía y el Departamento de Psicología Social de la Universidad de Sevilla.Las investigaciones sobre preferencia ambiental han constituido, en los veinte últimos años, una de las áreas de mayor actividad en el marco general de los estudios de psicología ambiental impulsadas, a instancias políticas en los paises más desarrollados por la problemática derivada de la relocalización y gestión de los denominados «recursos escénicos» (paisajes de elevado valor que era necesario proteger, conservar u optimizar). El propósito fundamental que persigue este trabajo es el de realizar un acercamiento general a las cuestiones más importantes que caracterizan este reciente ámbito de estudio. En primer lugar, se comenta, sucintamente, el estado actual de la psicología ambiental en el contexto geográfico del autor, así como se ofrece una definición de dicha disciplina. Posteriormente, se abordan las tres líneas de investigación que contribuyen, en opinión del autor, ejemplos de cuestiones científicas relevantes para el progreso teórico y aplicado de la disciplina señalada: a) la influencia del tiempo en la preferencia por ambientes; b) las diferentes posiciones teóricas existentes (categorías); c) las relaciones que pueden establecerse entre las características objetivas del paisaje y los juicios psicológicos subjetivos (realidad).Environmental preference research has constituted, in the last 20 years, one of the most active fields in the general scope of environmental psychology studies. Such research have fundamentally been promoted by governments, in the most conuntries, in order to manage the so-called scenic resources (valued landscapes which are necessary to preserve or improve). The principal aim pursued in this papper is to present a general view about the foremost questions which characterize this active study field. Initially, state of art of the environmental psychology in The Netherlands has been, briefly, introduced and a definition of this discipline is offered. Subsequently, three lines of investigation in invironmental preference have been pointed out which are, according to the author, examples of scientific questions that are directly relevant for theoretical .and applied progress in the mentioned discipline:a) the influence of time on preference for environments; b) the different theoretical views (categories); c) the relationships between objective characteristics and psychological subjective judgements of landscapes (the real world)

Seat Choice in a Crowded Café: Effects of Eye Contact, Distance, and Anchoring

According to theories of interpersonal distance people choose to position themselves in relation to nearby others in a way that optimizes intimacy and privacy. In two studies we investigated the influence of intimacy and privacy on seating behavior in a café (coffee house) setting. In Study 1 (N = 71) we manipulated two aspects of intimacy (eye contact and distance to others), and one aspect of privacy (architectural anchoring) in separate scenario’s and registered participants’ seat choice on floor plans of the three hypothetical cafés. We found that more often participants chose a seat that was at a larger distance to other café-goers. Study 2 (N = 121) replicated the design of the first study, but included affective and cognitive appraisal measures concerning both available seats in each scenario. This time we found that participants more often chose low-eye contact and anchored seats. Choices in line with hypotheses as well as those that were against hypotheses co-occurred with strong beliefs about the pleasure and arousal that each choice might provide and related to the expectations of interaction with others present. Results qualify expectations about protection and violation of intimacy and privacy, at least for café settings

Restorative effects of exposure to nature on children and adolescents: a systematic review

One of the most documented effects of exposure to nature is physical and psychological restoration. Restoration refers to the recovery or strengthening of adaptive resources (e.g., attentional capabilities, positive emotions, etc.) that are being spent in meeting the demands of everyday life. The restorative process has been widely studied in adults, but less is known about the restorative effects that exposure to nature has for children and adolescents. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted a systematic review aiming at systematically summarizing the accumulated evidence about the restorative effects of nature exposure on children and adolescents and reporting the main findings in terms of the restoration of (1) cognitive, (2) emotional, (3) social or (4) behavioural resources. To conduct the study, we followed the PRISMA procedure. Databases were extracted from Web of Science, PUBMED, and SCOPUS. Studies were selected if (a) they included non-adult participants, (b) they included empirical results at least for one of the four selected variables, (c) the study was published in English and (d) the study had been peer-reviewed. According to these criteria, 30 studies were finally selected. Selected studies were categorized in terms of sample size, duration of the intervention (if applicable), and quality of the study (following the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute assessment tool). Results show that exposure to nature has significant restorative effects, but the effects differ across the selected variables. Due to methodological limitations, such as a lack of measurement standardization, and the scarcity of experimental and longitudinal studies, caution should be exercised when interpreting the available results. Suggestions for future lines of research in this area are providedThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (grant number: PGC2018-095502-B-I00

Effect of frequency and mode of contact with nature on children's self-reported ecological behaviors

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Environmental Psychology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Environmental Psychology, 41 (2015) doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.11.001The relationship between spending time in nature and behaving in an ecological manner seems to be contingent on various factors. This cross-sectional study evaluates the association of Frequency of Contact with Nature (FCN) on children's Environmental Attitudes (EA) and self-reported Ecological Behaviors (EB) considering three different types of daily experiences in nature: (1) Work-related and (2) non work-related in rural areas, and (3) non work-related in a city. FCN was expected to be linked to children's EB both directly and indirectly, through EA. A multigroup structural equation model revealed that the relationship between FCN, EA and EB differs among the three groups of children. The strongest association between FCN and EB was found for urban children and the weakest for those in the workrelated rural area. No direct association of FCN and EB was found in the non work-related rural area, and a negative one in the work-related rural areaFinancial support came from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI-2013-44939

Seat Choice in a Crowded Café: Effects of Eye Contact, Distance, and Anchoring

Henk Staats & Piet Groot (2019). Fronteirs in Psychology

Seat Choice in a Crowded Café: Effects of Eye Contact, Distance, and Anchoring

Henk Staats & Piet Groot (2019). Fronteirs in Psychology