RJAP

Abstract: This paper deals with a model of housing satisfaction based on the concept of housing inhabitability. The model is based on both an empirical search of housing satisfaction variables, as used by subjects to describe their homes, obtained through Kelley’s Grid technique, and on theoretical assumptions, both of which led to the variables that were finally included in the model. Multidimensional Scaling techniques and Path Analysis Modeling were used in its development. The dependent variable was housing inhabitability, which is defined as the degree of correspondence between the subject’s needs as a member of a social group and the household’s attributes. Three groups of variables emerged to explain inhabitability: symbolic, emotional and operative. The nodes (the variables that affected directly inhabitability, collecting the effects of the other independent variables) were: pleasure, meaning and operativity. Pleasure was affected by the activation and control variables, meaning by value fulfillment and operativity by functionality and privacy, thus constituting the mentioned groups of variables. All this variables pertain to the cognition and evaluation of the inhabitants of their milieu. The results were very satisfactory in terms of the fit of data to the model, which is consistent with the constructs and postulates of a cognitive model proposed by the authors. We believe the quantitative theoretical model to be reasonable enough and that it advances our understanding of the relationship between the person and its housing milieu providing for the development of insights as to how to improve it. Post occupancy evaluation (POE), pre design evaluation (PDE) and pre construction evaluation (PCE) can take advantage from the use of these scales. It is thought that further research should be headed toward relating this model to design and physical variables.

Keywords: housing, inhabitability, pleasure, meaning, operativity

Abstract: Within the Environmental Psychology paradigm, we present the results of a study that identifies the relationship among medical consulting, physical and environmental variables generating manifest and internal stress responses in patients of waiting rooms in a general public hospital. The kind of illness, waiting time and type of waiting room were considered as part of the medical consulting variables. The physical variables measured were: sound, light, temperature, humidity, air velocity and suspended particles in air. The socio- environmental variables included were: functionality, physical evaluation, signaling, spatial and equipment perception, confidence in and safety of the medical service, stay in ward, human quality of attention and environmental meaning. The results allowed us to develop a predictive model based on structural equation statistics which links theoretical relationship among stressors such as physical comfort, environmental meaning and wayfinding, with empirical data obtained from this study. The model includes the observed variables such as waiting time, temperature and social density. Results are discussed by taking into account the relevance of environmental sources of stress in health care centers.

Keywords: environmental variables, stress, structural equations modelling

Address of correspondence: andeane@servidor.unam.mx

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to the building of a bridge between environmental psychologists and policy makers, as psychologists have been more worried with the theoretical development of environmental psychology than with connecting with applied areas of the complex world of environmental policy. In addition to the variations of these bridges regarding scale, there are other important aspects to be considered like the democratic and participative context. The work makes also some reflections about one-directional versus bi-directional communication and discusses the way in which environmental psychology sees this matter. The paper finishes by proposing environmental psychology as a process within an alternative view of participation other than political decentralization.

Keywords: environmental psychology, democratic context, participation, communication

Abstract: This study examines environmental and psychosocial factors of risk evaluation of being pick-pocketed in two different sites in Lisbon, Portugal. Results demonstrate that awareness of criminality-related problems in one’s neighbourhood, strong social bonds, perceptions of efficiency of formal social control, familiarity with the place, perceptions of environmental disaffordances for pickpockets, and potential major stressors (such as noise) intervene into the evaluation of risk of being pick-pocketed. The authors discuss that in urban areas where social bonds are particularly strong, physical environmental cues are less important for perceptions of safety. Conversely, in socially heterogeneous places where social bonds are weaker, public’s perceptions of safety follow an individualistic perspective, in which characteristics of physical environment become more salient.

Keywords: pick-pocketed risk evaluation, social bonds, physical environment, safety

Abstract: This study looks at the relationship between the spatial organization of an educational environment and the noise generated by its users. By using conceptual and methodological tools developed in the area of Environmental Psychology and the strategy of non-reactive measurements, we established a relationship between a physical variable, pertaining to the environment and a users’ variable. The physical variable targeted was the integration level of the spaces forming an educational environment, using the Spatial Syntax methodology, while the users’ variable was the noise level generated within these spaces, which was a product of daily human activities. The results indicate the existence of a relationship between the two variables, because the spatial organization leads to a type of environment usage that generates different levels of environmental noise, depending on the integration level of the environment. It also leads to a certain pattern of human movement, both outside and inside one of the buildings. The results indicate that integrated spaces generate higher levels of movement and interaction between people, which in turn lead to higher levels of environmental noise than less integrated spaces.

Keywords: environmental psychology, space syntax, environmental noise, environmental design, environmental evaluation

Address of correspondence: cer@servidor.unam.mx

Abstract: The concept of sustainable development arises in answer to many environmental problems that sustain different implications concerning health, justness and the individuals' development that inhabit the Earth. The conceptual content of this thematic in health, environment and development has a specific objective - to contribute to the understanding of factors involved. This research paper brings to our attention some facts that characterize and tinge the relationship among health, environment and development; it mentions some characteristics of the urban context and their relationship with health; lastly, elements of correlation are pointed out, among environment, health and poverty in Latin America and Mexico.

Keywords: health, environment, development.

Address of correspondence: Av. de los Barrios No. 1 Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, Edo. de Méx, México, C.P. 54090

Abstract: The psychological model of stress has been used to explain the reactions of the individuals in front of a series of undesired environmental factors. It is very important to know how the environmental factors affect the inhabitants of the city, from the point of view of the psychology and the health as well. This matter becomes more necessary in cities so conflicting and overcrowded such as Mexico City. The present investigation’s aim was to explore the possible relationship among the sources of urban stress, coping strategies, and stress symptoms. The study was carried out with a non probabilistic sample of 240 inhabitants from Mexico City. Two reliable and valid instruments were applied. The results showed significant correlations between the urban stress sources and the physical and psychological stress symptoms, and between the coping strategies and the psychological stress symptoms.

Keywords: environmental psychology, urban stress, coping

Address of correspondence: Av. de los Barrios No. 1 Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, Edo. de Méx, México, C.P. 54090

Abstract: The present study is a synthesis of people-environment studies in Romania, with an emphasis on sociological and psychological contributions. It covers the period between 1920 and 2004 and it focuses on the main themes, on the influences of the communist era and on future research needs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t include, as we initially intended, solid analyses concerning architectural, cultural and urban geography studies published in Romania.

Keywords: environmental psychology, totalitarianism

Address of correspondence: cilin@socio.uvt.ro

Abstract: La Psychologie Environmentale represente un domain assez nouveau de la psychologie, mais un domain qui se developpe tres rapidement. Son objet d'etude est la relation entre la personne humaine et le milieu. Ce domain de la psychologie a pour objectif la resolution des problemes du milieu et des problemes du communaute. A cause de la complexite de cet objectif, la recherche dans le domaine de la Psychologie Environmentale est multidisciplinaire, aussi dans ses interets, comme dans le methods et le techniques utilises.

Keywords: multidisciplinarite, metode de recherche, problemes methodologiques

Address of correspondence: mtredeus@usc.es

Abstract: In his Personal Constructs Theory, Kelly assumes that all of our present interpretations of the universe are subject to revision and replacement. Persons differ from each other in their constructions of events or in their personal constructs system. To evaluate this system, Kelly worked out the Repertory Grid Test that is a set of rating scales that allows us to build bridges between qualitative and quantitative research techniques. In this paper, we offer an example of Grid structure and application in environmental psychology field. This technique takes a form of structured interviewing which arrives at a precise description uncontaminated by the interviewer’s own viewpoint. We illustrate how this useful technique can be applied to the field of Environmental Psychology.

Keywords: personal constructs theory, repertory grid technique, qualitative research

Address of correspondence: irimacsi@yahoo.com