PY2086:03
Environmental Psychology
Townsville, Cairns
Prerequisites: PY1001 or PY1002 or PY1003
26 lectures, 26 tutorials. Second semester.
Staff: Ms J Kirkham.
This subject examines the behavioural implications of human settings. It is an interdisciplinary, but essentially psychological synthesis of those theoretical and research streams variously labelled ecological psychology, human ecology, environmental perception/cognition, proxemics and behavioural design and it borrows substantially from human biology, human geography, spatial and urban anthropology and the design professions. Subject areas covered include a brief evolutionary perspective, physical environmental factors (such as temperature, information load, periodicity and pollution), personal space and territoriality, human isolation and crowding, human factors research, stress, natural disasters perception and response, environmental design, vernacular architecture and cross-cultural comparisons, urban settings, environmental impact assessment and evolution and general theoretical and methodological considerations.
Learning Objectives:
- a good understanding of the history, nature, theory and methods of environmental psychology;
- a critical appreciation of why and how environmental psychology has developed as an interdisciplinary and applied area of psychology;
- a good understanding of the diverse theoretical and research literature that informs environmental psychology;
- integrate a practical and informed understanding of human settings with the student’s existing psychological knowledge base.
Assessment by examination (70%); practical assignments/discussions (30%).
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