Unit 14 Application of Social

Psychology to environment*
Structure
14.0 Objectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Social Psychology and Environment
14.2.1 Effect of Physical Environment on Human Behaviour
14.2.2 Effect of Human Behaviour on the Environment
14.2.3 Social Dilemmas
14.2.4 Social Design
14.3 Let Us Sum Up
14.4 Unit End Questions
14.5 Glossary
14.6 Answer to Self-Assessment Questions
14.7 Suggested Readings and References

14.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
● Examine the applications of social psychology to environment; and
● Discuss the applications of social psychology to diversity.

14.1 INTRODUCTION
This case is also known as the ‘Dehradun Valley Litigation’. In Mussoorie hill range of
Himalayas, the activity of quarrying was being carried out. Limestone was extracted by
blasting out the hills with dynamite. This practice has also resulted in cave-ins and slumping
because the mines were dug deep into the hillsides, which is an illegal practice. Due to lack
of vegetation many landslides occurred, which killed villagers, and destroyed their homes,
cattle and agricultural land.
Creuza Oliveira tells the story of more than nine million Brazilian domestic workers, mostly
women, mostly black, for whom slavery was a way of life. Born in a family of poor rural
workers with no schooling, Oliveira began life as a domestic worker in Bahia when she was
a mere 10 years old. Unable to balance work and school, she had to pick work and dropped
out of school numerous times. At work, Oliveira would be beaten and taunted whenever
she broke something, she was often called as lazy, monkey, even "nigger". The physical and
psychological abuse was compounded by sexual abuse from the young men in the household
where she worked. To top it all, Oliveira was not paid. "I only started to receive the salary
as a domestic worker when I was 21," she told a gathering at a UN conference in Geneva.
"Until that age, my payment was in used clothes and food. I did not have a right to vacations
or any basic workers rights."
* Dr. Tina D Cunha, SEN Inclusion learning mentor and key worker.
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Social Psychology today is concerned with its applications to human life and living. It lays Application of Social
great emphasis on the cognitive basis of social behaviour and pays more attention to the Psychology to
practical application of the disciplines, knowledge. Humans survive as a species depending Environment
on their capacity for social living. Most of human history involved people dependent on
others for survival. Humans naturally adapted to this form of existence.
Individual’s today make sense of the world around because of the shared understandings,
norms, and behaviours that exist in primary social groups such as the family. They adjust to
these even though they may have their own stereotypes and prejudice. As discussed earlier,
stereotype in social psychology is an overgeneralised belief about a particular category of
people (Cardwell, 1999). Prejudice is an affective feeling towards a person based on their
perceived social membership. It refers to preconceived, often unfavourable, evaluation of
another person based on gender, beliefs, social class, disability, race/ethnicity etc. (Dovidio,
2010).
According to social psychologists, people formulate ideas of the world through two main
approaches:
Social Cognition Approach: The approach focusses on the functioning of the human mind
which receives, processes, structures and stores information from the senses as mental
representations (Perloff, 2008).
Discursive and Narrative Approach: The approach focusses on how information in
individuals mind has already been constructed by other people. Thus, the information that
individual’s draw to make sense of the world arises from dialogues that have long cultural and
social histories (Billig, 2008).
Social psychologists agree that the construction of representations (or understandings)
of the world is central to the production of everyday knowledge. In an individual’s social
context, psychologists believe that even when an individual is physically isolated from others,
they make a psychological presence in their society. Hence, an important feature of social
psychology is about explaining human behaviour as a result of the interaction of mental states
and immediate, social situations.
In the present unit, we will discuss the reciprocal relationship between human beings and the
built as well as natural environment they live in. In this relationship there are varied socio-
psychological markers like gender, age, race, sexual orientation etc. that contribute towards
human diversity. These factors along with the physical, social and cultural environment
aid in building social identities. Such diversity encourages positive group relations and an
appreciation and value to others in the community. In a nutshell, this unit focusses on the
applications of social psychology to the environment and diversity.

14.2 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

In this section we will attempt to understand the interplay between people and the environment
by discussing how the physical environment affects human behaviour (climate, nature,
pollution etc.), how human behaviour affects the environment (Conserving energy, recycling,
reduced biodiversity etc.) and the tragedy of the Commons.
The interdisciplinary nature of environmental psychology enables us to understand the
relationship between behaviour and the environment. The Journal of Environmental
psychology explains the field as “the scientific study of the transactions and interrelationships
between people and their physical surroundings (including built and natural environments,
the use and abuse of nature and natural resources, and sustainability-related behaviour)”. The
case of Dehradun Valley Litigation mentioned at the start of the unit is a clear example of how
human behaviours disturb out natural resources and inturn affect humans themselves.

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Areas of Application of 14.2.1 Effect of Physical Environment on Human Behaviour (Climate,
Social Psychology Nature, Pollution etc.)
We all exist in a physical world. Our perceptions of the environment around us relate to
the extent to which we engage with it. Humans are known to have an innate awareness
and sensitivity the towards the environment. In our need for safety and security (according
to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs), we seek the environment around us for physical and
psychological comfort.
The environment we live in, affects us and our behaviour. Three such effects are on the
following:
Behavioural and Emotional responses: According to Evans, G. (2018), negative effect,
interpersonal and intergroup conflict and psychological distress has been linked to global
climate changes especially rise in temperatures. Natural disasters like floods, draughts cause
high stress, change in routines, decreased quality of the life and disturbed mood states among
people.
Health: Factors in the physical environment like air/ water/ noise pollution, proximity to toxic
sites, access to unhealthy food etc. can lead to various health concerns like cardiovascular
illness, respiratory issues, lifestyle diseases among other consequences. Besides these direct
influences, factors like geographical location, crowding, poor availability of resources can
contribute to vulnerabilities such as malnutrition, impairments etc.
Motivation: Environmental factors are known to affect every human that share common living
or work spaces. Such factors such as proper (or improper) lighting, noise, humidity, space
have huge impacts on human performance and productivity. People who have experienced
calamities or those that have a passion for the environment along with environmentalists are
motivated towards preservation and this motivation influences their knowledge, attitudes, risk
perception and overall behavioural responses.

14.2.2 Effect of Human Behaviour on The Environment (Conserving

Energy, Recycling, Reduced Biodiversity etc.)
Human beings affect the environment in numerous ways. These are manifested in positive
as well as negative behaviours that have a significant effect on our natural habitat. The
indispensable resources of air, water, soil once damaged can take years, decades or even
centuries to replenish. Three of the major impacts that harm the environment are:
Pollution: The trash and waste that the human population produces is inescapable. Pollution
in any form (water/ air/ noise) has serious impacts on the environment and eventually on
humans too. Such pollutants damage animal life, aquatic life by destroying their natural
habitats. In humans, their own irresponsible behaviours of causing the various forms of
pollution has health consequences like allergies, asthma, heart conditions etc.
Global Warming: Humans engage in large scale deforestation and one of the detrimental
effects of such behaviours is increase in carbon-di-oxide emissions that increase the planets’
average temperature. With rising sea levels, melting glaciers and disturbed wildlife habitats,
human activities such as burning fossil fuel, land abuse, clearing forest and green lands
continue to contribute towards global warming.
Climate Change: According to Solomonet al (2007) human activities such as those mentioned
above, cause variations in the atmosphere through the release of harmfull gases like carbon-
di-oxide in the air and hence contribute to climate change. The largest contribution comes
from the burning of fossil fuels and such activities cause major changes in natural processes
such as solar changes and volcanic eruptions.
Today, with awareness and activism to save the environment, times may be changing. Some of
the positive human behaviours to undo the damage done so far are as follows:
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Conserving energy: Simple behaviours like using an outdoor clothes line to dry clothes
Application of Social
or using smart meters that display data on energy usage or not leaving taps running when Psychology to
brushing your teeth etc. help towards saving energy. Environment

Following the three R’s: The three R’s belong to what is known as the waste hierarchy
– Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These actions are to be taken in order of priority to reduce the
amount of waste generated and create a sustainable life. By simply reusing or remaking old
products into new ones without exploiting resources from nature is one of the ways in which
humans can make a positive contribution to the ecosystem. Such eco friendly behaviours will
help sustain our natural resources in a long run. Responsible human behaviours of refusing
to buy items you do not need, reusing items more than once and disposing off items no longer
required at appropriate recycling centres are taking the focus in environmental campaigns
today.
Conserving and protecting natural resources: A lot of farming communities globally
are faced with decreased yields and low incomes because of high temperatures and erratic
rainfall. Individuals are realising the impact of their behaviours on such communities and
need to engage in more sustainable activities such as plating trees to prevent soil erosion,
rainwater harvesting, grow vegetation in catchment areas, treating industrial waste, using bio
fuels and reducing the usage of plastic among other things.

14.2.3 Social Dilemmas

When we discuss about social psychology and environment, we mainly focus on the effect
that the environment has on the individuals and also the effect that individuals have on the
environment. Our physical environment including the weather, pollution, buildings, the
natural setting etc.. can have an impact on our behaviour as well as our thinking and wellbeing.
Our behaviour and attitude related to conservation, waste management, conservation related
activities etc can have an impact on the environment.
The application of social psychology to environment calls for focus on social dilemmas.
Social dilemmas can be described as situations in which individuals have to make certain
choices. In social dilemma, the individuals could get greater rewards for noncooperation than
for cooperation, regardless of actions by others. But if a large number of individuals do not
cooperate then the rewards received by all are lower (Gilford, 2012).
There are three main forms of social dilemmas:
Public benefit dilemma: This denotes a dilemma whether to contribute to a certain activity
of project that will benefit everyone when it is a voluntary contribution. The contribution
can be in terms of finance, efforts or time. For example, cleaning the common area of your
society, which will benefit everyone in the society. The dilemma here can occur when you
have to contribute your time, energy or money. Also if only contribute the project will not be
as successful as when a large number of individuals contribute.
Social traps: These are the pleasures that are for a shorter period of time but in long term
could lead to pain or loss. For example, using pesticides while growing vegetables could help
in clearing the pests but in long run the pesticides can have an impact on the fields in which
the vegetables were grown.
Resource dilemmas: Resource dilemmas can be termed as common dilemmas that denote
the situations in which the individuals have to make a choice between one’s own interest and
that of the community or environment (Gilford, 2012). Each individual when taking certain
decisions like using private care in place of public transport can contribute to depletion of
resources. The issue may not seem large at an individual level, but when we see large number
of persons doing so, leading to traffic jams and pollution and also leading to consumption of
fuel, we realise the the issue is at a much larger scale.

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 In context of social psychology and the environment, an interesting concept called the ‘tragedy
Areas of Application of
Social Psychology of the commons’ was coined by scientist Garrett Hardin in 1968. He described what could
happen in groups of people when individual’s act in their own best self interest and ignore
what is best for the whole group. In a fishing community, for example, the activity of fishing
is a main source of income and hence every fisherman will aim to catch as much fish as he
can while ignoring the fact that the rest of the group may also be engaging in such self interest
behaviours. As this behaviour continues, the common shared resource (fish) will get depleted
eventually and it will affect the entire community and people globally as well, due to non-
availability of fish.
People all over the globe need to share the common natural resources and preserve them as
much as possible rather than engage in behaviours resulting in their depletion. Mark van Vugt
(2009) outlined some common solutions to reduce the uncertainty of the future resulting from
the tragedy of the commons:
Information: According to Van Vugt, the more information a person has, the more secure
they feel about making rational decisions that may impact the environment they live in. For
example, people may conserve more water when they are made to understand how their
behaviours can directly alleviate water shortage.
Identity: Humans have a deep desire to belong to a social group. As social creatures, there is
a strong need for acceptance and feeling of belongingness. Being a part of an energy usage
group in the neighbourhood – where usage is reflected as a smiley face or a frown face based
on individual electricity bills – can make people change their consumption behaviours.
Institutions: Policies made by authorities and institutions need to engage in fair distribution of
resources. People will have low interest or motivation to participate in a group if the authorities
or institutions running these groups are corrupt or playing favourites. Such institutions can
encourage trust in people by listening to them and providing accurate unbiased information
about resources.
Incentives: Providing incentives by rewarding positive environmental behaviours and
highlighting harmful ones aims at motivating people to engage in ways that promote
environmental preservation.
Intervention strategies designed to focus on pro-environmental behaviours need to focus on
the above and need to be based on strategies that lead individuals to avoid taking actions
based on their self interest and go with larger interest of the community. According to Steg
and Vlek (Gilford, 2012), an intervention could involve the following steps:
● Specific behaviour that will have a positive impact on the quality of the environment
which is needs to be selected. For example, you could target the waste disposal
behaviour of individuals in your society.
● The primary factors underlying the specific behaviour (selected in step 1) are to be
identified and examined. Any behaviour is complex and have many determinants.
The primary factors could be values, awareness related to the problem, attitude, social
norms ans so on.
● Development of an intervention strategy to change the specific behaviour. Various
strategies based on the earlier steps can be designed. Strategies can be as follows:
Antecedent strategies: These strategies focus on the factors that lead to the problem. For
example, awareness based strategies.
Consequence strategies:These strategies focus on the outcome of the problem. For example,
reinforcement for certain pro - environmental behaviours.
Evaluating the effect of the intervention strategy. Any intervention is to be evaluated and
based on the evaluation the intervention, can be further improved or modified.

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Self Assessment Questions (SAQ I) Application of Social
Psychology to
1) What is resource dilemma? Environment

.........................................................................................................................................

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..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................

2) What are social dilemmas?

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14.2.4 Social Design

In the context of social psychology and environment, the term environment denotes the
situation in which we function and exist. It not only has to do with the natural resources but
also with our work set up or a class room set up that could enhance the work productivity
or learning process respectively. Our behaviour can be influenced by factors like lighting,
noise distractions, and temperature and so on. Thus, as students of social psychology, we also
need to focus on this aspect of social behaviour. And in this context we can discuss about
the term social design. Social design mainly focuses on how settings can be designed in a
way that help meet the desires and requirements of individuals. Social design is different
from technical design, that is, the engineering related details of a building. As described by
Guilford (2012, page 312), the approach of social design is “small scale, human oriented, low
cost, inclusive, democratic, tending to appropriate technology, and concerned with meaning
and context, the occupant or paying client, and a local focus”. The main goals of social design
(Guilford, 2012, page 322) include:
● Meeting or matching the needs of the occupants: Buildings need to be socially
designed in such a way that they match the needs and activities of the occupants. In this
context, it is important to focus on Press that denotes the characteristics of environmental
features that play a role in shaping of the behaviour. Press can be categorised as alpha
press and beta press. Alpha press denotes the reality that can be examined with the
help of an inquiry that is objective and beta press denotes individuals interpretation
about the reality. Congruence that is based on alpha matching denotes how the setting
objectively meets the needs of the occupants and habitability. Beta matching denotes
the environmental quality from the point of view of the occupants. As much a s possible
the social design must attempt to facilitate alpha and beta matching.
● Ensuring the satisfaction of the users of the building: The satisfaction of the
occupants can be reflected in habitability. And social design practitioners need to focus
on these aspects as well while designing the building.
● Bringing about change in behaviour: An adequate social design can lead to better
work productivity, learning experience and will facilitate overall positive behaviours.
● Facilitation of social support: Buildings can be designed in such a way that they
encourage social interaction. Furnitures can also be arranged in a Socio-Petal way that
encourage social interaction, rather than sociofugal way, arrangements that discourage
social interaction.

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Areas of Application of ● Enhancing control: Individuals should be able to control their immediate environment
Social Psychology and should be capable to sense their loss of control. An example of low control setting
is a crowded area.
● Using imageability: The building should be understandable to individuals who use the
buildings.
Social designs can be applied to not only closed places but also to the outdoor areas and the
above goals are applicable for outdoor area as well.
In this context, we can also discuss about Defensible space theory. The theory was proposed
by Jane Jacobs and Oscar Newman (Guilford, 2021). The theory states that crime occurrence
and feelings of security can be influenced by certain physical design features. Thus, the spaces
can be designed in a such a way that the feelings of security of the people is increased and
likelihood of crime occurrence is reduced. There are six main elements on the basis of which
the crime vulnerability of a space (Guilford, 2021) can be assessed:
● the possible visibility or lines of sight of the public areas.
● presence of the residents who take benefit of the lines of sights.
● social involvement of the individuals in maintenance.
● good access and escape routes for victims but poor access and escape routes for the
criminals.
● surrounding needs to be attractive to promote caring behaviour on behalf of the
individuals towards the space that creates the impression that individuals are vigilant.
● whether there are structural safeguards or not.
Based on the above checklist, areas that could be prone to crime occurrence can be identified.
Thus, social psychology can be adequately applied to environment to enhance it and make it
safe.

Self Assessment Questions (SAQ II)

Fill in the following Blanks:
1) ............................ mainly focuses on how settings can be designed in a way that help
meet the desires and requirements of individuals.
2) The term environment denotes the situation in which we ............................ and
.............................
3) The Defensible space theory was proposed by ............................ and ............................
(Guilford, 2021)
4) ............................ need to be socially designed in such a way that they match the needs
and activities of the occupants.

14.3 LET US SUM UP

We all exist in a physical world. Our perceptions of the environment around us relate to
the extent to which we engage with it. Humans are known to have an innate awareness and
sensitivity towards the environment. Human beings affect the environment in numerous
ways. Three of the major impacts that harm the environment are Pollution, Global Warming
and Climate Change. Today, with awareness some of the positive human include conserving
energy by following the three R’s– Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Conserving and protecting
natural resources. We also focused on the social designs and how they can have an impact on
the individual behaviours.
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14.4 UNIT END QUESTIONS Application of Social
Psychology to
Environment
1) Discuss the effect of physical environment on human behaviour.
2) Examine how human behaviour affect the environment.
3) Elucidate upon social dilemma.
4) Describe the concept of social design.

14.5 GLOSSARY
Culture: Taylor defined culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief,
art, morals, laws, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society” (Berry, Poortinga, Breugelmans, Chasiotis, and Sam, 2002).
Social design: Social design mainly focus on how settings can be designed in a way that help
meet the desires and requirements of individuals.
Social dilemmas:Social dilemmas can be described as situations in which individuals have
to make certain choices.
Tragedy of the Commons: According to scientist Garrett Hardin (1968) is what could happen
in groups of people when individual’s act in their own best self interest and ignore what is
best for the whole group.

14.6 ANSWERS TO SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

(SAQ)
Self Assessment Questions I
1) Resource dilemmas can be termed as common dilemmas that denote the situations in
which the individuals have to make a choice between one’s own interest and that of the
community or environment.
2) Social dilemmas can be described as situations in which individuals have to make
certain choices.
Self Assessment Questions II
1) Social design
2) function and exist
3) Jane Jacobs and Oscar Newman
4) Buildings

14.7 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

Ackerman, C. E. (2018). What is Environmental Psychology? Retrived from https://
positivepsychology.com/environmental-psychology/ on 23.05.2020.
Berry,J. W., Poortinga, Y. H. and Pande,J. (1997) Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology
Volume 1 Theory and Methods. London. Allyn and Bacon, 2nd edition.
Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Breugelmans, S. M. Chasiotis, A and Sam, D. L. (2002). Cross-
Cultural Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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Areas of Application of Blaine, B.E. (2013). Understanding the Psychology of Diversity. New Delhi:Sage Publications
Social Psychology Inc., 2nd Edition.
Cardwell, M. (1999). Dictionary of Psychology. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn.
Crisp, R. J., & Hewstone, M. (1999). Differential evaluation of crossed category groups:
Patterns, processes, and reducing intergroup bias. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations,
2(4), 307-333.
Eberhardt, J. L., P. A. Goff, V. J. Purdie, and P. G. Davies (2004). Seeing Black: Race, Crime,
and Visual Processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 87(6), 876–893.
Ensari, N., & Miller, N. (2001). Decategorization and the reduction of bias in the crossed
categorization paradigm. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(2), 193-216.
Evans, G. W. (2019). Projected Behavioural Impacts of Global Climate Change, Annual
Review of Psychology, 70(1), 449-474
Everett, J. A. C. Intergroup Contact Theory: Past, Present, and Future. Allport, G. W. (1954).
The nature of prejudice. Cambridge/Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Retrieved from https://
www.in-mind.org/article/intergroup-contact-theory-past-present-and-future on 02/06/2020.
Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup
identity model. Psychology Press.
Guilford, R. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to the Environment. L In F. W. Schneider,
J. Gruman, & L. M. Coutts (Eds.), Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing
social and practical problems.Delhi: Sage.
Hodgetts, D., Drew, N., Sonn, C., St , N., Sonn, C., Stolte, O olte, O., Waimarie Nikor aimarie
Nikora, L., & Cur a, L., & Curtis, C. (2010). Social psychology and everyday life. Basingstoke,
UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
International Dalit Solidarity Network. Report finds entrenched caste discrimination in
India’s criminal justice system. Retrieved from https://idsn.org/report-finds-entrenched-caste-
discrimination-in-indias-criminal-justice-system/ on 29/08/2020
Joireman, J. (2005). Environmental Problems as Social Dilemmas: The Temporal Dimension.
In A. Strathman & J. Joireman (Eds.), Understanding behaviour in the context of time: Theory,
research, and application (p. 289–304). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Kwantes, C. T; Bergeron, S; and Kaushal. R. (2012). Applying Social Psychology in
Diversity. In F. W. Schneider, J. Gruman, & L. M. Coutts (Eds.), Applied social psychology:
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems.Delhi: Sage.
Matsumoto, D and Juang, L. (2004). Culture and Psychology. CA: Wadsworth.
Peery, D. (2011). Colorblind Ideal in a Race-Conscious Reality: The Case for a New Legal
Ideal for Race Relations. Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy, 6, 473.
Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual review of psychology, 49 (1), 65-85.
Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra & Ors v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. Retrieved
from https://www.informea.org/en/court-decision/rural-litigation-and-entitlement-kendra-
ors-v-state-uttar-pradesh-ors on 30/08/2020.
Van Vugt, M. (2009). Averting the tragedy of the commons: Using social psychological science
to protect the environment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(3), 169-173.

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