Environment Behavior Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025, Environment and Behavior

Clinician teamwork is effective at improving many health care outcomes, and the physical environment is an important part of a system that facilitates teamwork. This review critically evaluates and synthesizes the empirical evidence on the impacts of the physical environment and surrounding ecosystem on clinician teamwork in health care facilities using a systems-based lens. The systematic search yielded 2,323 titles and abstracts between 2007 and 2017, which were reviewed and resulted in 34 articles examining physical environment’s impact on clinician teamwork. The Systems Engineering for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework is utilized to thematically structure findings to examine the interdependent nature of built and nonbuilt factors that have a documented impact on clinician teamwork. This study found consistent evidence of the interdependence of these systems factors in facilitating or hampering teamwork, as defined by Salas and colleagues’ “Big Five.” The review identifies curren...

2025, Revista Brasileira de Planejamento e Desenvolvimento

Indian students occupy a prominent space in South African higher educational institutions and form part of a diverse student population. This is the result of a multiracial, democratic society; the imperatives of cross border migration; and globalization trends in higher education. This paper discusses the 'pull and push' factors that motivated Indian students to study at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The paper then examines inter-racial relations in terms of academic and social relationships among Indian students and other student populations at UKZN within the framework of the Allport social contact theory. Research methods for the study include focus groups and qualitative methods. Primary data was gathered through oral interviews from ten undergraduate Indian students at the Department of Tourism at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The primary findings of the study are that Indian students prefer to gather together with their fellow Indian classmates

2025

Much art seeks to describe or stimulate the feelings and emotions of the viewer, through both abstract and literal representation. With the exponential increase in computing power over recent years we also seek new ways of interacting with technology and exploring the virtual world. Physiological signals from the human body provide us with a view into the autonomic nervous system, that part of the nervous system largely unmediated by the direct intentions of the viewer. With the appropriate choice of signals and processing, we can even develop systems with the ability to interact with us on an emotional level -machines that know how we feel and can react accordingly . This gives us the ability to see into and map the interior worlds of artists and viewers through a direct and visceral connection, the human body itself. A key issue in the development of physiologically based artwork is to make the observer-artwork dialogue meaningful to the observer, a question of translating the input bio-signals to visual, auditory or experiential events. We have yet to develop a suitable language for this dialogue and so this paper seeks to explore some potential mappings for bio-signal art, illustrated using several case studies from past and current works (Knapp et.al., 2008. We also examine some of the other philosophical and artistic issues involved in 'affective' and bio-art such as monitoring emotion v. engendering emotion, the involvement of the observer in creating and contributing to bio-signal art and strategies for effectively developing such works.

2025

2025, Journal of Education and Learning

In the School of Architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, we are continuously reflecting on the teaching-learning process in order to offer the best education. The COVID-19 pandemic brings different changes in social, health, work and educative practices, which people have had to adapt to. These new conditions have shifted the perception of life and society, so it has demanded a new perspective to solve problems and meet the challenges that have arisen. It has happened with education, in which all stakeholders have been working to face and manage the educational practice in a virtual modality. Based on teaching experience, the present research is focused on the teaching-learning process in Architecture, considering design workshops during the first years of the major. The purpose of this paper, which uses an action research methodology, is to explore those changes that come about from this process in virtual environments. In this way, understanding architectu...

2025, Environment and Behavior

2025

The powerful influence of global consumerism and its strong effect on rural communities has led to calls for the "death of distance" and for the placelessness of community. However, skepticism remains that all unique elements of communities of place have been erased from rural life. Using data from Montana (N=3,508), this research investigates how distance, size, and other spatiallybound factors influence sentiments of community satisfaction and attachment in communities of place. Findings suggest that distance can decrease community satisfaction in highly rural communities and increase attachment in rural communities along the urban fringe. Perceived satisfaction with community services was a key unanticipated finding as the strongest predictor of community satisfaction and attachment. Therefore, this research argues that even though rural areas are being transformed through global consumerism, levels of community satisfaction and attachment continue to be diverse across place in significant but nuanced ways because of distance and community services.

2025, Environment and Behavior

Residential energy conservation is among the most efficient means of reducing emissions, yet behavior is lagging behind this potential, suggesting this is an area where psychology can contribute. Research suggests that conservation behaviors may cluster into distinct dimensions, and a greater understanding of these differences could improve intervention. This article explores this idea through systematic literature review and analysis of survey data. Content analysis of 28 articles showed strong support for two primary dimensions (curtailment and efficiency), with up to nine defining attributes. However, analysis also identified inconsistencies, leaving questions about their validity. Factor analysis of survey data identified two principal components along these dimensions; subsequent analyses revealed several differences in their predictors. Results provide support for a dimensional approach and suggest further research into underlying attributes. Although the curtailment versus ef...

2025, Psychological growth following exposure to isolated, confined, and extreme environments: A systematic review

The physical and psychosocial adversity presented by isolated, confined, and extreme (ICE) environments has historically been framed in terms of psychological risk. A more comprehensive understanding of positive psychological ICE-related impacts is warranted to optimize growth versus risk potential following exposure to ICE environments. The primary aim of this systematic review was to explore potential contributors to post-expedition psychological Growth (PEG) following prolonged (i.e., ≥1 month) exposure to ICE environments. A secondary goal was to investigate the scope and methodology of extant studies measuring ICE-related PEG. A standardized search protocol was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Study quality was determined by the Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS). N = 12 eligible studies were identified, with the majority reflecting polar expeditions and mixed methods approaches of moderate quality. Perceived stress, agreeableness, and openness to experience were found to be the most predictive of PEG. Individuals appear to perceive lasting benefits in some domains following ICE exposure. That said, an understanding of why and how these changes occur has yet to be thoroughly examined and requires further research. A fuller understanding of PEG following ICE exposure and risk may help promote greater mental health following experiences in various ICE contexts (e.g., space travel, harrowing terrestrial endeavors).

2025, Environment and Behavior

This study proposes, from a cross-national perspective, a model of environmental citizenship that includes predictors at the individual and contextual levels. The model is based on multiple theoretical considerations from environmental sociology, media studies, and economics. The study, based on secondary data, reports that at the individual level, media use, environmental concern, and postmaterialism positively predict environmental citizenship. However, the data also allow to test whether the effects of these variables vary depending on social and environmental contexts. Beyond the individual level, results show that, overall, the effect of environmental concern is stronger in countries with better environment quality. The results also show that economic development at the country level positively explains a stronger effect of postmaterialism on environmental citizenship than in less developed countries. The study shows that environmental citizenship is stronger in countries with lower levels of environment quality, and in countries with less developed media systems.

2025, Environment and Behavior

2025

The paper sets out to evaluate walkability in Riyadh. Many scholars have examined the issue of walkability at the macro-scale level of the neighborhood. To better understand walkability however, it is crucial to scrutinize it at the micro-scale of the street as well. Here again, it is important to bear in mind that the streets in a neighborhood are not all homogeneous but are of different types (main street, local residential, dead-end streets, etc.). Differences in street types will lead to differences in walkability scores. The study used quantitative objective measures together with qualitative subjective measures to evaluate walkability. GIS-derived walkability indicators were used to assess neighborhood walkability. Whereas, environment audit tools were adopted to evaluate street walkability. The results indicate that older traditional inner-city neighborhoods performed better than newer suburban neighborhoods with regard to walkability. Main street types tend to outweigh other...

2025, Environment and Behavior

We adopt a recently introduced incentivized method to elicit widely shared beliefs concerning (a) social norms, (b) environmental effect, and (c) difficulty of a wide range of environmental behaviors. We establish that these characteristics, as reflected in elicited beliefs recorded in one sample, predict (out-of-sample) environmental behaviors in a second separate sample. Pro-environmental behaviors perceived to be more socially appropriate and easier to perform, in particular, are more likely to be chosen. We show that subjective social norms mediate the effect of "global" (widely shared) social norms on behavior, which improves our understanding of the normative processes underlying pro-environmental action. Our use of an incentivized elicitation method might moreover mitigate problems associated with conventional surveys, such as social desirability bias, consistency bias, and inattentive responding, as discussed in the article.

2025, Environment and Behavior

We proposed and tested a conceptual model of how cultural cognition worldviews, climate change risk perception, and psychological barriers are related to reported energy conservation behavior frequency. Egalitarian and communitarian worldviews were correlated with heightened climate change risk perception, and egalitarian worldviews were correlated with weaker perceived barriers to reported energy conservation behavior. Heightened climate change risk perception was, in turn, associated with fewer perceived barriers to engagement in energy conservation behavior and more reported energy conservation behaviors. The relation between cultural worldviews and perceived barriers was partly mediated by climate change risk perception. Individuals with distinct worldviews perceived psychological barriers differently, and some barrier components were more strongly related to energy conservation behavior than others. Overall, climate change risk perception was the strongest predictor of perceive...

2025, Environment and Behavior

Attachment to place may contribute to individuals’ well-being. We evaluated whether visualizing a place of attachment (compared with visualizing a nonattached familiar place) could increase the satisfaction of key psychological needs. Place attachment visualizations increased participants’ levels of self-esteem, meaning, and belonging. Furthermore, visualizing places at a certain geographical scale helped to improve meaning, self-esteem, and belonging among participants who had been ostracized. This is the first study to treat place attachment as an independent variable in an experimental design, so it broadens the options for internally valid, methodologically diverse place attachment research.

2025, Environment and Behavior

Post-secondary institutions require appropriately designed informal learning spaces (ILSs) outside of classrooms for studying and group-work activities, but few studies have investigated how these spaces perform, especially in terms of acoustics. We measured objective acoustical characteristics and architectural features in 23 such spaces, and captured environmental assessments and well-being outcomes from a survey of 850 student occupants. Objective measures indicated that sound levels generated by occupants and other sound sources tended to exceed maximum values recommended by standards. Some components of perceived suitability and well-being were greater in spaces with lower background sound levels (e.g., from ventilation systems), but with more occupant-generated sound, and more reverberation. Furthermore, some design features such as more vegetation, the presence of soft furnishings, and lower seating density predicted some components of perceived suitability and well-being. Th...

2025, Environment and Behavior

In proposing that value endorsement level is dynamic rather than static, this study investigated how value importance judgments would vary with situation. Questionnaires were mailed to community residents ( N = 276), using a scenario that described a realistic value conflict in an environmental issue. The results demonstrated that value importance judgments varied with situation, but the degree to which the situation influenced the judgment was moderated by the preexisting value endorsement level. Moreover, the study suggests that when 2 values are in conflict, the degree of difference in preexisting level of endorsement of the 2 values may be a better predictor of the judgments than the endorsement level of a single value.

2025, Environment and Behavior

Energy conservation through the adoption of new, energy-efficient technologies will succeed only to the extent that the new technologies are not themselves perceived as risk sources. Previous research has found that beliefs about the health effects of fluorescent lighting predict compact fluorescent lamp use in homes. This paper describes the development and validation of a questionnaire to assess beliefs about the effects of common types of interior lighting on human health, work performance, mood, and social behavior. Principal components analysis of the 32-item Lighting Beliefs Questionnaire revealed 6 interpretable components: Lighting Importance, Brightness, Major Health Effects: Fluorescent Lighting, Minor Health Effects: Fluorescent Lighting, Social Setting, and Daylighting. The questionnaire may be used to explore responses to interior lighting and to discover what beliefs are held by end users. This information will assist in allaying unwarranted fears and concerns about ne...

2025, Environment and Behavior

A month-long field experiment evaluated the impact of descriptive social norm information on self-reported reduction of private vehicle use. Following a baseline week, participants were asked to reduce their vehicle use by 25% and were randomly assigned to a control condition or to a low or high social norm condition in which they received information that either under- or over-reported others’ successful efforts to switch to sustainable transportation. Results indicated a significant linear trend, such that messages highlighting more prevalent descriptive social norms increased sustainable transportation behavior (relative to private vehicle use) for commuting, but not non-commuting, purposes. Participants in the high social norm condition decreased their commuting-related private vehicle use by approximately five times, compared with baseline. Car-use message campaigns can reduce private vehicle use by highlighting descriptive norms about others’ sustainable transportation efforts...

2025, Environment and Behavior

Many interventions designed to curb energy use are ineffective because they fail to inspire individuals to engage in proenvironmental behavior and interact meaningfully with energy information. This field experiment targeted individuals’ personal motivations and goals in combination with sensor-recorded energy feedback to decrease electricity and water consumption. Residents from 77 “smart” apartments were randomly assigned to attend a multifaceted motivational program and set action-oriented energy goals. Participants were also randomly assigned to receive interactive energy feedback. Continuous electricity and water data were then collected for 3 months. Those who received the motivational intervention used significantly less hot water than those who did not receive the intervention. Moreover, those exposed to action-focused feedback used significantly less electricity than those who did not receive the feedback—an effect that was more pronounced in the motivation condition. Resul...

2025, Environment and Behavior

This study investigates the relationship between weather and crime in Barranquilla, Colombia, a city in the Torrid Zone, which in contrast to more commonly studied temperate zones is hot and humid year-round. Our analysis is based on daily variations in four weather variables (temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and wind speed) and two indicators of criminal activity, namely, homicides and interpersonal violence. To help identify statistical links, we add controls for temporal variables. Using count data models in the estimations, we do not find any statistically significant relationship between weather patterns and homicides. However, we find that weather can be an important predictor of interpersonal violence in this area. These findings draw attention to the importance of considering weather factors when designing a long-run urban security policy in one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change.

2025

The combination of the Muslims practices of conservation and the environmental education in KAED ensured the recycling awareness of the students in the faculty. Recycling awareness among students helps in cleaning up the environment and participating in the daily natural life cycle to achieve sustainability. The amount of waste carried out of the studio step in the faculty everyday could be a real problem. Students work in the studio most of the time, everyone comes with food and drinks plus the paper used for the projects and model making. The purpose of the research was to analyze the relationship between the recycling awareness of the students and the environmental education they undertake in KAED. The study examined the differences in recycling awareness among the students of KAED and focused towards the students' recycling awareness in relation to the year of study and the environmental studies they undertake. Chi-square and correlation were calculated for the data to determine the difference in recycling awareness among students in different years of study with respect to gender, department, attitude, facilities location and recycling knowledge undertaken in the faculty. The findings showed that the students' recycling awareness is significantly related to the year of study. Gender and department showed no relation with the recycling awareness of the students. The results also showed that facilities location played an important part on awareness. Recommendations included intensifying the environmental educational programs to plan for more sustainable environments and increasing the number of recycling bins for better accessibility. Future studies are recommended to focus on the enhancement of the environmentally friendly behavior with respect to sustainable development.

2025

In the midst of the current environmental crisis, scientists, academics, authors, and politicians worldwide are urging citizens to create sustainable communities. However, there is little capability to build a sustainable society without an informed, active, and engaged populous. This requires more than just environmentally knowledgeable citizens. It requires a society that understands the principles of the environment and can also exemplify them in daily life. In order to create a more environmentally literate world, there has been a push for environmental education integrated into schools. This qualitative study sought to examine Kenyan teachers’ perspectives on the human–nature interaction by conducting vignette focus-group interviews. It is a subject not widely explored but vital for conservation not only in this area, but also other areas that seek to have an ecological informed populous. The vignettes were created using photographs and explanations of the photographs that the ...

2025, Environment and Behavior

Previous research on the determinants of homesickness has tended to produce inconsistent results and relied mostly on cross-sectional assessments. To capture the longitudinal perspective, we conducted a smartphone appbased study, monitoring the emergence and volatility of homesickness in international university exchange students (n = 148). Applying an experience sampling method (ESM), homesickness was measured every second day over a period of 3 months followed by a post hoc questionnaire to assess potential moderators. Multilevel modeling revealed that whereas age, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness to Experience, voluntariness, previous stays abroad, support from host university, geographical distance, co-and host national identification, language proficiency, and pre-data collection duration of stay did not yield any effects, being male, scoring high on Neuroticism as well as Agreeableness, having difficulties in sociocultural adaptation, and being at the beginning of the stay (as opposed to later on) were related

2025, Environment and Behavior

This article examines the impact of visual images and perspective taking on concern for environmental problems. Participants in the experiment were 193 university students. Results replicated earlier results showing that perspective taking, combined with images of animals harmed by nature, caused an increase in biospheric environmental concerns. In addition, results showed that the empathic dimension of personal distress moderated the relationship between kind of image and kind of perspective on both biospheric and egoistic environmental concerns. Results about the lack of other moderating effects are discussed.

2025, Environment and Behavior

This article reports on the relationship between outcome knowledge regarding an environmental event and self-reported fear of future illness. A sample of 95 subjects in three conditions showed that outcome knowledge increases post event likelihood estimations, thus indicating a hindsight bias. Subjects' perceived likelihood of increases in disease rate is shown to substantially predict subjects' level of fear of future illness for both cancer and no cancer disease. Demographic variables of gender, political ideology, and attitude toward environmental activism were shown to have mixed results in predicting fear of future illness. Positive attitude toward environmental activism modesty predicted fear of cancer but not fear of noncancer disease. Political ideology failed to significantly predict fear of future illness, although it showed a trend toward significance for predicting fear of cancer. Gender significantly predicted fear of noncancer disease but not fear of cancer, wi...

2024, Environment and Behavior

With growing concern for biodiversity loss, conservationists are faced with increased pressure to depict animals in ways that evoke empathy and lead to conservation. In recent years, conservation photographers have called on scientists to assist them in identifying the best ways to depict animals to elicit an emotional response. Collaborating with conservation photographers, we used an original survey experiment with 1,152 participants to answer this call by comparing how individuals respond to traditional wildlife photography and animal portraiture. Those who were exposed to animal portraits reported increased empathy and decreased positive and relaxed emotions. We engage critical anthropomorphism, arguing that it is an essential tool to encourage conservation efforts and that animal portraiture may be an ideal “attention grabber,” after which wildlife images can serve as “educators.” As the first study to make this quantitative comparison, our findings have important implications ...

2024

2024, Estoa

Healthcare buildings can be complicated to navigate, causing patients to experience stress and lose time if not adequately planned. This study aims to identify the relationship between the spatial layout in healthcare buildings and wayfinding for users, by utilizing Behavioral Sequence Analysis (BSA) and Space Syntax through Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR). The methodology is based on behavioral and spatial data and was tested by using the experimental setups in VR environments. Space syntax analysis is applied to collect spatial data. Experiments were conducted by assigning wayfinding tasks in virtual hospitals with various plan configurations. Behavioral data obtained from BSA was associated with the spatial data driven by the space syntax analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of the participants’ wayfinding behavior. The results indicate that the semi-centralized floor plan layout with high visibility levels performs better in wayfinding while the decentralized layout with low visibility values performs worse.

2024, Environment and Behavior

This article examines how residential property and its surroundings influence day- and night-time residential burglary. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles of territoriality, surveillance, access control, target hardening, image maintenance, and activity support underpin the study. Data were collected by observing 851 houses in the city of Enschede, half of which were burgled and half representing a random selection of houses not burgled. Multilevel multinomial regression models were estimated for predicting day- and night-time burglaries. The findings show that territoriality and access control predict daytime burglary while access control and target hardening predict night-time burglary. The analysis controls for offender availability, target attractiveness, and residential stability. The conclusion is that two separate burglary prevention frameworks are needed: one for day-and another one for night-time burglary.

2024, DS 76: Proceedings of E&PDE 2013, the 15th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education, Dublin, Ireland, 05-06.09.2013

The human mind automatically combines the two types of information received through different senses such as the sense of seeing and hearing. This combination creates new information that will influence the human mind before making the responses towards the encountered object. In product design, most of the products are designed to attract human attention through their external design such as form and colour. However, when the designed product emits undesired sound while functioning such as suck and blow air sound, this disturbing sound known as noise has been proven to be disturbing to the human hearing. Moreover, product noise also evokes a negative response from users such as to keep away from the product. In order to overcome this problem, the designers create an attractive design as a way to compensate the insufficiency of the product. Recently, in measuring the interaction between product appearances and noise, it was found that the contribution of visual appearance (colour and pattern design) of the product in interaction with the product noise is insignificant. However, measurement on the interaction between product form and product noise through users' response still remain unknown. Thus, in this paper, we intend to measure the significance of the users' response based on auditory and visual experience (form design) on noisy product.

2024, Environment and Behavior

We examined the influence of the built environment on pedestrian route selection among adolescent girls. Portable global positioning system units, accelerometers, and travel diaries were used to identify the origin, destination, and walking routes of girls in San Diego, California, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. We completed an inventory of the built environment on every street segment to measure the characteristics of routes taken and not taken. Route-level variables covering four key conceptual built environment domains (Aesthetics, Destinations, Functionality, and Safety) were used in the analysis of route choice. Shorter distance had the strongest positive association with route choice, whereas the presence of a greenway or trail, higher safety, presence of sidewalks, and availability of destinations along a route were also consistently positively associated with route choice at both sites. The results suggest that it may be possible to encourage pedestrians to walk farther by prov...

2024, Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research

Purpose - Previous studies on privacy in offices have primarily focused on the characteristics of generic visibility, examining the entire visible space from each workspace in 360 degrees. Nevertheless, employees in their workspaces investigate the visual targets within their binocular vision at 120 degrees. Therefore, by adopting the affordances perspective, this study aims to examine deeply generic and targeted visibility in open-plan offices and their relationship to interactions.
Design/methodology/approach - The study consisted of two phases utilizing space syntax techniques. Initially, work-process interactions of the employees were determined through the survey. The survey data underwent spatial analysis to calculate the number of work-process interactions. Subsequently, DepthMapX software was used for visibility analyses. A new Python script for DepthMapX was developed to analyse the targeted visibility ratio. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the number of work-process interactions with generic and targeted visibility parameters.
Findings - The findings revealed that a higher number of visible employees within the 120-degree and 360degree fields of vision corresponded to a lower number of work-process interactions in open-plan offices. Furthermore, the study establishes a direct link between visual privacy and interaction, indicating that increased visibility leads to decreased visual privacy.
Originality/value - The current research concluded that the relationship between visual privacy and interaction in open-plan offices differs from the previous studies, as employees with low visual privacy and high visibility tend to engage in fewer interactions. Overall, this study highlights that increased employee visibility is not directly associated with increased interaction in open-plan offices unless adequate visual privacy is provided.

2024, Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology

This body of research needs a transdisciplinary, multilevel theoretical model that may help to explain how macro-urban scale characteristics, human perception and micro-urban scale characteristics affect walking behaviour. The model aims to question walkability according to spatial, individual, group, and regional characteristics as macro-urban scale characteristics that come into play in human perception. Human questions synthesise these characteristics and decisions to walk. Then, the micro-scale characteristics become influential in the decision of walking and its type. Some factors are more prominent in this process than others. These factors have been suggested as walking needs in a hierarchy: Feasibility, Safety, Accessibility, Usefulness, Physical Comfort and Social Environment/Sociability. This model can (a) serve as a framework to understand the variables in existing research, (b) offer hypotheses for how factors from macro/micro-scale urban characteristics affect peoples’ walking decisions, and (c) guide designing/re-designing environments.
Keywords: sustainable environments, walkable urban space, walkability, sociability, environmental protection.

2024, Museum and Society 22(1)

Based on the assumption that museums have been spatially transformed in recent decades in the course of globalization, decolonization, and mediatization, we investigate from a socio-spatial perspective what influence this has on visitor experience and whether it leads to inequalities in ways of knowing. To this end,
we conducted a visitor study in a science exhibition in a newly opened museum complex in Berlin, by using a mixed methods approach combining movement tracking, visitor survey and ethnographic observation. By analyzing the spatial practice in and spatial perception of the exhibition, we developed parameters
along which spatial appropriation in the museum differs and correlated them with variables relating to museum spatial knowledge and scientific expertise. By
integrating the spatial and social data using a multiple correspondence analysis protocol, we show that the legibility of museum space varies according to the
visitors’ cultural and specific symbolic-spatial capital. As this unequal access to the museum space has a direct influence on ways of knowing, the study shows
that inequalities are reproduced by the current spatial refiguration of the museum.

2024, International journal of criminology and sociological theory

This study examines seasonal patterns of crime in two Nigerian cities with varying weather conditions. Using residents’ perception of crime data, break-ins are perceived to occur more frequently in the low quality neighbourhoods in Benin City, whereas in Minna, it is perceived to occur regularly in the high quality neighbourhoods. Overall results show that Minna, with warmer climate has higher levels and seasonal variations for violent crime (assaults) while Benin City, with colder climates has higher levels and seasonal variations for property crimes (break-ins). It is apparent from this study that seasonal patterns of crime in one place may not translate effectively into another. Hence, continuous researches into seasonal analysis of crimes are justifiable in the security planning efforts to ensure an environment that is suitable for living, working and recreating.

2024, Environment and Behavior

Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influence on the environment. The question we ask is "Would a nearby attractive location cancel out this negative influence?" In two studies, participants were shown fictitious neighborhoods that contained an unattractive location (an unsafe housing block or a landfill) located close to an attractive location (one's own home or a park). The participants were asked to evaluate how pleasant it would feel to live at increasing distances from these locations. The results showed that positively evaluated locations can mitigate but not entirely neutralize the effects of negatively evaluated locations. The present research elucidates how people combine the effects of sources of positive and negative influence.

2024, Environment and Behavior

To help mitigate the negative effects of climate change, citizens’ attitudes and behaviors must be better understood. However, little is known about which factors predict engagement with climate change, and which messaging strategies are most effective. A community sample of 324 residents from three regions in British Columbia read information either about a climate change impact relevant to their local area, a more global one, or, in a control condition, no message. Participants indicated the extent of their climate change engagement, the strength of their attachment to their local area, and demographic information. Three significant unique predictors of climate change engagement emerged: place attachment, receiving the local message, and gender (female). These results provide empirical support for some previously proposed barriers to climate action and suggest guidelines for effective climate change communication.

2024, Environment and Behavior

Composting biodegradable material is an effective means of reducing landfill waste and improving the state of the environment. To encourage the use of public compost bins, two interventions were introduced in community shopping center food courts and a local, independently owned fast food restaurant: tabletop signs outlining the benefits of composting and models who demonstrated the behavior. When diners ( n = 540) viewed confederate models composting ahead of them, they were more likely to compost as well ( p < .001). However, the signs did not significantly influence composting rates, either alone ( p > .05) or in combination with the models ( p > .05). Results support the idea that proenvironmental actions can influence similar behavior in others and may be more effective than signage in doing so.

2024, Environment and Behavior

This review assessed the effects of environmental labels on consumers’ demand for more sustainable food products. Six electronic databases were searched for experimental studies of ecolabels and food choices. We followed standard Cochrane methods and results were synthesized using vote counting. Fifty-six studies ( N = 42,768 participants, 76 interventions) were included. Outcomes comprised selection ( n = 14), purchase ( n = 40) and consumption ( n = 2). The ecolabel was presented as text ( n = 36), logo ( n = 13) or combination ( n = 27). Message types included: organic ( n = 25), environmentally sustainable ( n = 27), greenhouse gas emissions ( n = 17), and assorted “other” message types ( n = 7). Ecolabels were tested in actual ( n = 15) and hypothetical ( n = 41) environments. Thirty-nine studies received an unclear or high RoB rating. Sixty comparisons favored the intervention and 16 favored control. Ecolabeling with a variety of messages and formats was associated with the se...

2024, Environment and Behavior

, when his interests in Latin American cities developed. He is presently studying spatial and environmental learning in U.S. and Caribbean children. ROGER M. DOWNS, who completed a B.A. degree and two years of graduate work at the University of Bristol, has taught in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University. His major research interests are human spatial behavior, environmental cognition, and behavior analysis and environmental design.

2024, Sustainability

The concept of radiological sustainability has been reviewed using the possibility of
the reutilization of NORMs regarding the 2050 sustainable development concepts. This study is
reviewing the capability of re-production of NORM residues based on their properties and the
applicable treatment before reutilization. Linking the waste producers and construction materials
industry as mineral end-users could contribute to the creation of industrial symbiosis and result
in waste reduction and preserving natural resources on one hand, and CO2 reducing and energy
saving on the other hand. According to EU-BSS (European Basic Safety Standards Directive), the
characterization of NORMs as a secondary raw material for use as construction materials is necessary,
however as an additive or secondary material their radiological behavior and material properties
are quite important regardless of their origin. This is to say that the reutilization of NORM residues
provides a better financial and environmental solution while reducing possible radiological effects on humans. NORMresidue or waste could become a high material resource for the cement industry.
In this regard, the assessment of radium equivalents (Raeq) and external and internal indexes (I
indexes) are useful tools to classify NORM residues before their inclusion in building products. This
assessment and/or indexes reflect the risk of external exposure much better than the specific activity
concentration of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40. Equally, building material properties such as density and
thickness should be taken into consideration when designing building materials that contain NORM
residue. Furthermore, mixtures or additives of NORM residues are proven to result in the reduction
of activity concentration in the raw residue with other raw materials, and this offers flexible reuse
options depending on the final product. By integrating radiological considerations into sustainable
development initiatives, we can work towards a safer, healthier and more sustainable future.

2024, Environment and Behavior

This article compares self-reported and objectively measured physical features in a large-scale environment. Environmental perception has been studied through object perception research but little is known about perception in full-scale environments. Also, few studies examine differences between self-reported and objective environments including the potential effects of distance and content. In this study, a questionnaire, satellite imagery, and geographic information system data were used. Results indicate that self-reported environments are different from objective environments. In addition, self-reported responses separate natural and built environments into two different dimensions. Water combines self-reported and objective measurements into a single dimension. Further analysis revealed that content (natural vs. built) and distance (300 ft vs. 1,500 ft) are important factors influencing the relationships between self-reported and objective environmental measurements. By better ...

2024

This is an approach that envisages the origin area as "producing crime trips," the destination area as "attracting crime trips," and takes into account that in between origin and destination areas the would-be criminals may encounter friction. The term gravitational model exploits the parallel with gravitation models in physics, in which the attraction force between two solid bodies, such at the earth and the moon, is modelled proportional to the mass of both bodies and inverse to the distance between them. This is also the case in crime trip models. Here, the distance between origin and destination areas is one of the main friction variables, where the greater the distance the less likely a crime trip will happen. However, more friction variables than just geographical distance may play a role. De Poot, Luykx, Elffers and Dudink (2005) and Reynald and colleagues (2008) showed that social barriers between origin and destination neighbourhoods had such an effect in The Hague (the Netherlands). In that research, the more those areas differed in terms of ethnic composition and level of wealth, the more friction had to be overcome. Inspired by Stouffer (1940, 1960), Elffers and collegues (2008) investigated, again in The Hague, to examine the availability of intervening opportunities that might be acting as a friction variable over and above distance. They found this to not be the case.

2024, Environment and Behavior

Childhood-nature experiences have lifelong effects on environmental citizenship and commitment to nature-based activities. But, it is unclear whether, and to what extent, the different mechanisms through which children and youth experience nature are associated with these outcomes. To test these associations, an online questionnaire assessing mechanisms of childhood exposure to nature, adulthood environmental citizenship and commitment to nature-based activities, and demographic variables was sent to the email addresses of 509 employees of the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. The 236 completed surveys indicated four mechanisms of children’s exposure to nature. Children’s self-exposure to nature was the strongest predictor of a number of aspects of adulthood environmental citizenship and of behavioral and attitudinal commitments to nature-based activities. Exposure through school-related programs had less predictive value for these o...

2024, Environment and Behavior

A conceptual and operational model examined relationships among childhood participation in nature-based activities, motivations, constraints, mitigation of constraints, and adult visits to Minnesota State Parks. The results support a model in which (a) higher childhood participation in nature-based activities increased motivation and mitigation strategies, (b) constraints decreased state park visitation and also triggered the use of mitigation strategies that in turn increased state park visits, and (c) higher levels of motivation improved efforts to negotiate constraints and visit more. Consistent with the main hypothesis, the more nature-based activities people participate in during childhood, the more they desire such activities and are able to mitigate constraints to participation, and consequently, the higher the level of participation, as an adult. The results suggest a rather indirect association between childhood participation in nature-based activities and adulthood partici...

2024, Environment and Behavior

We are interested in how the perceived soundscape quality varies across everyday environments, and in predicting ratings using psychoacoustic descriptors and individual personality traits. Two list ...