Environmental Psychology - Essay Example

Role of the environments in Humans Performance and Behaviors Introduction Environmental psychology has been defined as a field of study that studies the interrelationship between environments and human affect, cognition and behaviour (Gifford 2007). Environment in this context implies everything that surrounds a person and that has an ability to affect one’s behaviour. Therefore, the environment consists of the built environment, the natural environment (vegetation cover, trees), people who surround us (in schools, places of works etc), the kind of activities we engage in (games, recreation activities) among other things (Bell, Greene, Fisher and Baum 2001). Studies have shown that environment affects the behaviour of person (Bell, Greene, Fisher and Baum 2001; Gifford 2007). Different environments therefore are likely to lead to develop of different behaviours in people. This essay comprehensively examines how the environment can affect human behaviour. Specifically, the influence from media, friendship and social interaction is discussed individually to show the connection between the environment and human behaviour. Chapter 3: Media Media has been studied for a long time in reference to its influence on human behaviour. The social learning theory strongly links media with human behaviour and has been backed up by many examples witnessed almost every year. However, some scholars, for instance Hagell and Newburn (1994), have somehow managed to disconnect media from human behaviour. This sections whether really media influences human behaviour. Studies have shown that human behaviour can be learned by the act of copying what is watched on the media. Specifically, it has been shown that exposure to media depicting violent actions is likely to lead to development of aggression by the views. The Bandura experiment 1963 clearly brought this to light through the Bobo doll experiment. It has been concluded that children can copy what they see on media and adopt it as their behaviour. This imitation has been said to be influenced by various factors which include age, gender of the child watching and that of the one propagating violence (Bandura, Ross and Ross 1963). Trying to make an attempt to develop a unifying framework on human aggression theories, Anderson and Bushman (2002) carried out extensive studies through which they concluded that there are multiple factors that influence how human aggression may result from repeated exposure to media. These factors include the personality of the views, personal attitudes, mood and beliefs, the environment among others. The internet is a form of a media which has been shown to be quite popular among the children. A national UK survey showed that the internet is significantly (90 percent of the participants) used by children for school work related activities and obtaining information about other activities. Only 21 percent used the internet to access video games and chat rooms (Livingstone, Bober & Helspar 2005). It is possible that this 21 percent who access video games through the internet are negatively influenced into acquiring aggressive behaviours. Take the example of Warren Leblanc who was said to be obsessed with a violent video game called “Manhunt” and under this obsession killed Stefan Pakeerah (BBC 2004). Another video game “Doom” was blamed for influencing two college students into attacking and killing 12 students (Gibbs & Roche 1999). Apart from the internet, horror movies (not very different from games such as Doom and Manhunt) have also played a role in developing high level aggression in children. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson both at the age of ten years killed James Bulger who was 2 years old in 1993. Jon and Robert were said to have been influenced into committing this murder by a violent horror movie which they had just watched prior to committing the murder. It was further disclosed that one of the fathers to the boys had a collection of horror movies and probably his son had access to them (Bracchi 2010). Despite this seeming deep connection between aggression and media, dissenting views have been raised. For instance, according to Hagell and Newburn (1994), the influence from media is not strong. They arrived at this conclusion after undertaking a study on a group of teenagers consisting of those who had committed crimes and other who had clean criminal records. The study indicated that violent action depicted on the media did not lead those who had criminal records into acquiring aggression (Hagell & Newburn 1994). A close examination of the life profiles of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson reveals that their aggression was not really nurtured by media. According to Bracchi (2010), terrible upbringing whereby these boys whereby brought up seeing their parents fights and equally subjecting the boys to physical and mental torture oriented the boys to aggression. What conclusion can be drawn from this discourse on media versus human aggression? Media may affect human behaviour but it can be reinforced by the kind of environmental factors that one is in. Chapter 6: Friendship Human behaviour can also be greatly influenced by friends. Friends tend to have a huge influence on each other’s lives because they open up to each other easily. They also depend on each other on various aspects. Friends can be obtained from different places of interactions. For students most of their friends are students because the place where a student comes into contact most with other people is at the school. Friends can also be formed through online social networks and places of work. Friendship can mean different things depending on the people in question. To some, friendship may mean a relationship whereby both parties gain equally from the existence of the relationship. More often than not, this kind of friendship may be formed with a common goal of achieving a given objective. In other cases, friendship can be built upon the liking that people have for each other and therefore the desire to spend more time in each other’s presence. Friendship can affect human behaviour in many ways. This is significantly because opinions from friends are highly esteemed and have great chances of being considered. As such friends can dictate the kind of clothes one wear, the entertainment preferred and even the meals taken. Because the opinions from friends are more likely to be endorsed, friendship can bring about positive or negative results. Friends may encourage each to work hard in school and equally they may influence each other to shirk some lessons which they feel are not interesting. Basically, friendship develops human behaviour because friends spend a lot of time together and usually they engage in some things in a habitual way. Chapter 7: Brain/Plasticity Plasticity or neuroplasticity is a process through which neural pathways are reorganized by experiences that a person undergoes. It has been shown that functional changes which last for a long time occur in the brain when new information is acquired. Among the many things that affect plasticity is the environment. It has been argued that the brain can reorganize itself throughout the lifetime of a person: “at the beginning of life – when the immature brain organizes itself; in case of brain injury – to compensate for lost functions or maximize remaining functions; and through adulthood – whenever something new is learned and memorized” (Michelon 2008, p. 1). Research has proved that the connections in the brain are never fixed. As new information is learned, the brain reorganizes itself and the parts responsible for that learning grow. This has been proved through imaging of the brain of different people doing the same jobs but at different levels (Michelon 2008). A popular illustration of brain plasticity is that of feral children. A feral child is one who is isolated from human interaction to a great degree. Such a child spends his or her time alone. From findings, these children have been shown lack social skills that are acquired as a result of interaction. Feral children have also been associated with mental impairment and it has been that this is due to brain plasticity. Feral children do not engage in doing any activity and therefore their brains do not get to learn how to coordinate the body organs to undertake simple activities such as walking among other activities. However, when such children are removed from isolation, it has been shown that with the correct support they can learn to undertake activities they have never undertaken before (Sinicki 2013). Modern examples of feral children who have been assisted to learn new activities include Daniel Crocket who was discovered when she was seven years, Genie discovered at the age of 13 years, and Oxana Malaya found at the age of eight. These three children after being assisted were able to follow basic instructions. They were also able to learn language. Oxana had spent the first three years with her parents and then five with dogs exclusively. When she was discovered she could not talk but after some care and assistance she made some progress. Genie also made some progress in acquiring language but after the donation to support her learning started to drop, she regressed to her status. Lastly, Danielle Crokett has only managed to make some progress on basic instructions but she is yet to speak (Sinicki 2013). Conclusion Development of human behaviour significantly depends on the environment among other factors. It has been shown that media may affect human behaviour but it can be reinforced by the kind of environmental factors that one is in. Human behaviour can also be greatly influenced by friends. Friendship can affect human behaviour significantly because opinions from friends are highly esteemed and have great chances of being considered. Research has proved that the connections in the brain are never fixed. As new information is learned, the brain reorganizes itself and the parts responsible for that learning grow. References Gifford, R. (2007). Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice, (4th ed.) Canada: Optimal Books. Bandura A Ross D & Ross S 1963, Imitation of Flm-Mediated Aggressive Models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 66.1 pp. 3-11. Anderson CA & Bushman BJ 2002, Human Aggression. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 53: 27-51. Bell PA Greene TC Fisher JD & Baum A 2001, Environmental psychology, New York, Routledge. Gibbs, N & Roche, T 1999, The Columbine Tapes. Time Magazine Dec.20, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992873,00.html BBC News 2004, Game blamed for hammer murder BBC News July 29 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/leicestershire/3934277.stm Bracchi, P 2010, The Police were sure James Bulger’s ten-year-old killers were simply wicked. But should their parents have been in the dock? Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1257614/The-police-sure-James-Bulgers-year-old-killers-simply-wicked-But-parents-dock.html Livingstone S, Bober M & Helsper EJ 2005 Active participation or just more information: Young people’s take-up of opportunities to act and interact on the Internet. Information, Communication & Society 8.3. pp. 287-314. Sinicki, A 2013, Modern cases of feral children, Health Guidance, http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/16139/1/Modern-Cases-of-Feral-Children.html Michelon, P 2008, Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain, Sharp Brains http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/ Read More