
Explore how environments shape behavior and well-being across natural and built settings. Study key concepts, perception and cognition, place attachment, cognitive mapping, stressors, and urban design.
Environmental psychology studies how people interact with environments, covering environmental perception, cognitive mapping, place attachment, stress and coping, sustainability, design, and health in natural and urban spaces.
Trace the history and evolution of environmental psychology from ancient thinkers like Aristotle and Hippocrates through mid 20th century milestones to modern sustainability and digital environments.
Explore key concepts in environmental psychology, such as environmental perception, cognitive mapping, place attachment, environmental stress, restorative environments, biophilia, sustainability, and human environment interaction.
Explore how major theories explain how spaces shape well-being and behavior in environmental psychology. Identify attention restoration, stress recovery, place attachment, proxemics, and behavior settings for practical design insights.
Explore how visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and gustatory perception shapes navigation, interpretation, and cognitive mapping, including attention, memory, wayfinding, and spatial orientation.
Explore how place attachment and place identity shape behavior, well-being, and belonging through the person–process–place framework and the tripartite cognitive–affective–behavioral model.
Explore how cognitive mapping builds mental representations of environments to support wayfinding, including decision points, route planning, and environmental cues in urban design and navigation.
Explore physical, biological, chemical, and social–economic environmental stressors, such as air and water pollution, soil contamination, noise, EMFs, invasive species, disease outbreaks, toxic exposure, hazardous waste, urbanization, and climate change.
Explore environmental stress coping mechanisms: problem-focused, emotion-focused, and adaptive coping, and resilience factors at personal, community, and institutional levels to enhance mental health and adaptive capacity.
Environmental psychology explores the dynamic relationship between humans and their environments. These environments can be natural environments (such as parks and wilderness areas), built environments (such as cities and buildings), social environments (such as communities and workplaces), or virtual environments (such as online spaces).This course, "Introduction to Environmental Psychology," delves into how our surroundings influence our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and conversely, how our actions impact the environment. The primary aim is to understand how environmental factors influence human thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, and how human activities, in turn, affect the environment. Understanding these interactions is crucial for designing sustainable living spaces, promoting environmental stewardship, and enhancing individual and community well-being and thus will be better be equipped to tackle modern challenges like climate change, urban planning, and mental health. These insights will enhance both your professional skills and personal well-being.
By the end of this course, students will:
1.Explore the History and evolution of the field of Environmental Psychology
2.Understand the fundamental concepts and theories in environmental psychology.
3.Explore the types of Environmental Stressors and the Coping Mechanisms and Resilience
4.Understand the Psychology of Space and Architecture
5.Explore urban design and its impact on Human Behaviour
Explore the future direction in Environmental Psychology