Olubunmi Ruby Akinsanya
Environmental Psychology/460
10/5/2010
Richard Hill
Title of Paper
Why do individuals act differently in different social settings? Environmental Psychology is the field of psychology which studies the way human behavior is affected by their environment. Environment refers to an individual’s social setting, which can change consistently. (Fisher, 2007). Social settings and educational settings, professional settings and home settings can all be very different environments and different behaviors can be exhibited in each environment. An individual is most likely to interact differently in a social setting of close friends than they would in a professional setting of business associates and management. Environmental psychology closely examines behavioral problems, attitudes, cognition and conflict. Environmental psychologist focus on real life problems that happen in everyday life, in order to collect accurate data studies are done out in the real world and then compared with different theories. There are different orientations in environmental psychology. Problem oriented deals with the direct and specific relationship between the environment and its inhabitants. Environmental psychologist need to be able to solve problems, the different problems identified by environmental psychologist can affect all members of society and can range from overcrowding in urban communities to the design of an office building or school. Personal space and territory is very important to environmental psychology. Space plays a very important part in day-day living. (Young, 2010).You may have heard before that people in New York are always angry, well look how busy and crowded the city is, the crowded population and busy environment may have a lot to do with the attitudes and behaviors exhibited by New Yorkers. Human beings like to have their own personal space, knowing you have an area that belongs to you
References: Young, D. R. (2010, August 9). Environmental Psychology []. Message posted to http://Young, D. R. (August 9/2010). Environmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rdeyoung/envtpsych.html Fisher, J. J. (2007). What is Environmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://environmentpsychology.com/environmental_psychology.htm