Environmental Psychology

Abstract

Environmental psychology is the science and practice that investigates the mutual relations between people and their physical environments at the individual and small-group level. It examines fundamental processes such as perception of landscapes and buildings, cognitions about the environment and spatial cognition, and personality; social processes such as personal space, crowding, and the effects of high density, territoriality, and privacy; and the analysis of human transactions with the built and natural environment, including architecture and sustainability. Wherever people are, at home, in schools, at work, in parks, or on the street, they and the environment are constantly interacting in positive and in negative ways. These interactions occur not only in attitudes and emotions but also in actions and well-being.