The following link explains Gestalt Theories

http://youtu.be/ZWucNQawpWY

Environmental Psychology is the discipline that is concerned with the interactions and relationships between people and their environments

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY studies the relationship between environments and human behavior as well as how they affect one another.

Barker’s Ecological Theory

SOCIAL CONFORMITY

•Social Conformity is another important phenomenon in human behavior. It is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group.

Conformity can be simply defined as “yielding to group pressures”

•Normative conformity is conformity that occurs because of the desire to be liked and accepted. Peer pressure amongst teens is a good example of normative conformity.

•Informational conformity, is conformity that occurs because of the desire to be correct. It is so named because we believe that it gives us information that we did not previously have.

•It comes from the thought of, 'They must know something I don't know.' In many situations, we are unsure of how to act or what to say.

 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

•Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in 1943 ( A Theory of Human Motivation).

 

•Maslow has a theory of Motivation based on needs that people have.

–He arranges them in order of importance; that is, he believes you must fulfill the lower needs before achieving a higher one.

–If you achieve something near the top first, happiness will not last; but if you climb up the pyramid of needs, you will achieve great satisfaction with life.

 

•The four lower levels are Deficiency needs that are grouped together as being associated with Physiological needs,

•The top level is termed as Growth needs associated with Psychological needs.

 

DEFICIENCY NEEDS:  PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS

 

GROWTH NEEDS:  PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS

 

•The first four layers of the pyramid are what Maslow called “Deficiency Needs" or "D-needs": the individual does not feel anything if they are met, but feels anxious if they are not met.

 

 

DEFICIENCY NEEDS:

–Physiological: These are the basic animal needs for such things as air, water, food, warmth, sex, sleep and other body needs.•When these are not satisfied we may feel sickness, irritation, pain, discomfort, etc.•Physiological needs can control thoughts and behaviors, and can cause people to feel sickness, pain, and discomfort.

 

–Safety needs: 

•Safety needs are:

–man's yearning for a predictable, orderly world in which injustice and inconsistency are under control,

–the familiar frequent, and

–the unfamiliar rare.

•Personal security from crime

•Financial security

•Health and well-being

•Safety net against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts

 

–Love/Belonging needs: 

•After physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, the third layer of human needs is social. This psychological aspect of Maslow's hierarchy involves emotionally-based relationships in general, such as:

Friendship

Sexual intimacy

Having a supportive and communicative family–In the absence of these elements, many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and depression.

–Esteem needs:

•All humans have a need to be respected, to have self-esteem, self-respect, and to respect others.

•People need to engage themselves to gain recognition and have an activity or activities that give the person a sense of contribution, to feel accepted and self-valued, be it in a

profession or a hobby.

 

GROWTH NEEDS:

•Though the deficiency needs may be seen as "basic", and can be met and neutralized; self-actualization and transcendence are "being" or "growth needs" (also termed "B-needs"), i.e. they are enduring motivations or drivers of behavior.

 

Other Theories and Approaches

 

•Stimulation Theories conceptualize the environment as a source of sensory information. The stimulation includes:

•

•Simple stimuli such as light, color, sound, noise, heat and cold, and,

•Complex stimuli such as buildings, streets, outdoor settings, and other people.

 

Stimulation varies in amount and meaning.

•Amount of stimulation includes dimensions such as intensity, duration, frequency, and number of sources.

•

•Meaning of stimulation refers to each person’s integration and interpretation of the stimulus information.

 

•Adaptation-level Theory: Individuals adapt to certain levels of stimulation in certain contexts, no particular amount of stimulation is good for everyone.

•Arousel Theories: These are based on the assumption that “the form and content of most of our behavior and experience are related to how physiologically aroused we are”.

 

•Overload Theory: Concentrates on the effects of too much stimulation (noise, heat, cold, crowding).

•Restricted Environmental Stimulation: Too little stimulation causes problems in some circumstances, and has positive effects in others such as easy cognitive tasks.

•Stress: is another important concept. When environmental stimulation exceeds an individuals adaptive resources, behavioral and health effects occur.

•Stressors include: air pollution, hospitals, offices, extreme temperatures, traffic, noise, etc.

 

CONTROL THEORIES

•How much control we have over environmental stimulation is very important. We have more control at home, and less control outdoors such as in traffic jams.

 

•Personal Control: accounts for the effects of being able or unable to influence stimulation

•Psychological Reactance: is a result of lack of control.

•Learned Helplessness: is the conviction that nothing can change or overcome an unpleasant or painful situation.

•In everyday social transactions, we attempt to achieve personal control through Boundary Regulation Mechanisms, such as “Personal Space” and “Territoriality”.

 

BEHAVIOR SETTING THEORY

•This is a concept based on Roger Barker’s Ecological Psychology.

•It tends to explain person-environment relations in terms of the settings, social features, such as rules, customs, and typical activities, and its physical features.

•Consistent, prescribed patterns of behavior called PROGRAMS are found in many places. When you enter a certain space you are likely to see reccurrent activities, regularly carried out by persons holding specific roles. For example, every football game has two teams who run, pass the ball and score, and a referee. Uniformity of actions of certain roles is important.

 

PERCEPTION AND THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

•Perception is the gathering of information through our senses such as seeing, hearing, touching, etc. in order to understand the environment.

•Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.

•Through the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the environment that are critical to our survival.

 

AWARENESS AND ADAPTATION

•We may adapt or habituate to some environmental displays so that we really do not see them at all (a street we drive along everyday) or we may interested on something because of its importance (first look at the campus)

–Another example of habituation is the way we adapt to the perception of air pollution. We notice it when it is new to us.

Our perception is not always directed toward physical settings; it is usually directed toward other people or ourselves. We sometimes pay little attention to the physical environment.

Even when it causes some discomfort, this lack of awareness is called Environmental Numbness.

 

Affordances

•James Gibson introduced the term affordance in 1977. It is an important theory in environmental perception.

 

•An Affordance is the quality of an object or an environment that allows an individual to perform an action.

•It is the potential to provide something

•Gibson’s definition describes all action possibilities that are physically possible.

–Affordances are:

•objectively measurable

•independent of an individual’s ability to recognize them

•Always in relation to the actor (individual)

•Dependent on the actors’ capabilities

 

•Gibson argues that architects should not be taught to see form and shape, users do not see forms and shape when they see a place, rather they perceive Affordances—what the place can do for them.

 

GESTALT PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTION

•Gestalt is a general description for the concepts that make unity and variety possible in design.

 

•It is a German word that roughly translates as ‘whole’ or ‘form’ or ‘shape’. The aspects of Gestalt theory that interests designers are related to gestalt’s investigations of visual perception, the relationship between the parts and the whole of visual experience.•

In other words, the unified whole is different from the sum of the parts, which simply sums up Gestalt Theory.

 

•Gestalt principles were developed over a number of years, but came to prominence in part thanks to Rudolf Arnheim's 1954 book, Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye.

•Basic Gestalt Principles are:

•Similarity

•Continuation

•Closure

•Proximity

•Figure/Ground

•Symmetry and order

 

•Our brain tries to make sense of the information it recieves during perception. In order to do this it tries to organize and simplify the information.

•Gestalt theories explain the methods of organization our brain uses. When things seem too complicated or unorganized, concept maps/ organizational charts – basically perceptual organization helps.

•This is why we perceive the world as meaningful and complete and not a chaotic series of independant parts.

 

FIGURE AND GROUND:

•The term figure and ground explains how we use elements of the scene which are similar in appearance and shape, and group them together as a whole.

•Similar elements (figure) are constructed with dissimilar elements (ground) to give the impression of a whole.

•A figure  is something object-like that is perceived as being in the foreground.

•The ground  is whatever lies behind the figure.

•The perception of figure as opposed to ground can be thought of as the fundamental perceptual act of identifying objects.

•We perceive the larger one of 2 figures as background.

LAW OF PRAGNANZ

•It explains how we organize our perception into the simplest possible experience. It is sometimes called ‘The Law of Good Figure’ or ‘The Law of Simplicity’.

•The Law of Pragnanz (or Gestalt’s principle of perception) suggests that, when given ambiguous visuals, humans tend to complete and interpret the image beyond what is apparent.

•It also states that humans simplify visuals in order to remember them; a useful tip for artists, as this means viewers are more likely to recognize less intricate designs.

 

SIMILARITY:

•The principle of similarity states that things which share visual characteristics such as shape, size, colour, texture, value or orientation will be seen as belonging together or grouped.

 

PROXIMITY (yakınlık) OR CONTIGUITY (bitişiklik):

•The principle of proximity or contiguity states that things which are closer together will be seen as belonging together or a coherent object. Keyboards follow the same rule.

•As objects become closer they are seen as more unified. Proximity explains why broken or dashed lines and separate shapes can be interpreted as a line.

 

PROXIMITY

•An easy way to gain unity is by proximity: simply putting the elements close together. Spatial proximity is a powerful perceptual organizing principle and one of the most useful in design. Things that are close together are perceptually grouped together.

CONTINUITY (süreklilik, devamlılık):

•The principle of continuity predicts the preference for continuous figures.

•People tend to interpret line and contours whenever the visual elements of an image establish a direction. This explains movement in an image, since the eye continues in the direction that has been established. The viewer follows a larger uninterrupted form composed of smaller separate forms.

 

CLOSURE (kapama):

The principle of closure applies when we tend to see complete figures even when part of the information is missing. An object is really a group of simple items that the mind puts together as a single entity.

AREA:

•The principle of area states that the smaller of two overlapping figures is perceived as figure while the larger is regarded as ground.

SYMMETRY:

•The principle of symmetry describes the instance where the whole of a figure is perceived rather than the individual parts which make up the figure.

COGNITION

 

•We receive information from the environment all through our lives, this affects our behaviors physically and psychologically as the brain and the body give reactions to the stimuli from the environment. These processes are concerned with perception, cognition, and cognitive maps.

COGNITION is the processing of the information acquired by perception through storing, organizing and recalling.

 

•The representation people have of the surrounding environment is called an image or Cognitive Map.

•A cognitive map is the mental construct of the environment seen from multiple viewpoints. It integrates parts into a  whole.

 

Spatial Cognition is the way we acquire, store, organize, and recall information about locations, distances, and arrangements in the physical environment such as buildings, streets, and the great outdoors.

 

INFLUENCES ON SPATIAL COGNITION

•Stage of life

•Spatial Ability

•Familiarity with the place

•Gender

•Cognitive Biases

 

LEGIBILITY •It is the ease with which a setting can be recognized and organized by people. This concept was established by Kevin Lynch. For example some buildings are much more legible than others, why?

 

•The legibility of a setting influences the ease of wayfinding within.

•We memorize images, then we absorb distinctive monuments, symbols, and arrangements of streets or corridors. The better the arrangements are, the more Legible are the spaces.

 

Five Elements that Contribute to LEGIBILITY:

•1. PATHS: The routes along which people travel (roads, walkways, corridors, elevators, etc.).

•2. EDGES: Nontraveled lines (cliffs, shores of rivers, seas, walls).

3. DISTRICTS: Moderate sized areas that are identified as having a particular character (Çankaya, Tunalı, Department of Int. Arch.).

 

•4. NODES: Well-known points that people travel to and from, often at junctures of paths (key intersections, popular plazas or squares).

•5. LANDMARKS: Easily viewed elements, either on grand scale (Eifel Tower, Atakule), or smaller scale (a statue or unique storefront).

 

 

WAYFINDING

•“Wayfinding means knowing where you are, knowing your destination, following the best route, recognizing your destination, and finding your way back.”

•Wayfinding encompasses all of the ways in which people orient themselves in the physical space and navigate from one place to another.Wayfinding is a thought process used to navigate in unfamiliar environments, during which people must solve a wide variety of problems within architectural and urban spaces, involving complex decision making processes.

SIGN TYPES

•Directional Signs:

•Directly show the way by arrows, symbols or names.

•Identification Signs:

•They describe a place or an object.

•Informational Signs:

•They include all types. They show the way by giving information.

 

WHAT IS PERSONAL SPACE?

•IT REFERS TO

–AN AREA WITH INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES SURROUNDING A PERSON’S BODY INTO WHICH INTRUDERS MAY NOT COME.

•IT IS ALSO

–THE GEOGRAPHIC COMPONENT OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS.

 

Important Aspects of PERSONAL SPACE:

•IT STRETCHES AND SHRINKS WITH CIRCUMSTANCES

•IT IS ACTUALLY INTERPERSONAL

•PERSONAL SPACE ONLY EXISTS WHEN WE INTERACT WITH OTHERS

•ANGLE OF ORIENTATION AND EYE CONTACT ARE IMPORTANT

•THERE IS GRADATION

PERSONAL SPACE IS PORTABLE

•WHERE EVER YOU STAND OR SIT, YOU ARE SURROUNDED ON ALL SIDES BY PERSONAL SPACE.

 

TYPES OF INTRUSION TO PERSONAL SPACE

•ACCIDENTIAL: SOMEONE BUMPS INTO YOU ACCIDENTLY

•INTENTIONAL: YOU GET MUGGED

•AUTHORIZED INTRUSION: YOUR MOTHER HUGS YOU

 

 

PROXEMICS

•In the mid 1950s anthropologist E. T. Hall developed and popularized the concepts of Personal Space and his more general name for this field, Proxemics.

•“Proxemics” is the distancing aspects of personal space.

•There are many applications of proxemics in design. It indicates the necessity of adequate spacing between all fixtures in public spaces (i.e toilets) or the use of dividers between fixtures.

 

8 GRADATIONS OF PERSONAL DISTANCE

 

INTIMATE DISTANCE

•NEAR PHASE IS FOR COMFORTING, PROTECTING, LOVEMAKING, WRESTLING, AND OTHER FULL-CONTACT ACTIVITIES.

–NEAR PHASE: 0-15 CM

•FAR PHASE OF IT IS USED BY INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE ON VERY CLOSE TERMS. FOR EXAMPLE FRIENDS WHISPERING.

–FAR PHASE: 15-45 CM

 

PERSONAL DISTANCE

•NEAR PHASE IS THE ZONE FOR THOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH ONE ANOTHER AND IN GOOD TERMS. EG. GOOD FRIENDS OR HAPPY COUPLES

–NEAR PHASE: 45-75 CM

•FAR PHASE IS USED FOR SOCIAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FRIENDS AND ACQUANTANCES.

–FAR PHASE: 75-120 CM

 

SOCIAL DISTANCE

•NEAR PHASE IS THE DISTANCE SOMEONE MIGHT SELECT WHILE BEING INTRODUCED TO SOMEONE OR BUYING SOMETHING

–NEAR PHASE: 120-200 CM

•FAR PHASE IS TYPICAL OF MORE FORMAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. LITTLE SENSE OF FRIENDSHIP OR TRYING TO BE FRIENDLY.

–FAR PHASE: 200-350 CM

 

PUBLIC DISTANCE: DISTANCE  BETWEEN SPEAKER AND THE AUDIENCE.

•NEAR PHASE WOULD BE USED BY A LECTURER WHOSE CLASS HAS GROWN LARGE, AND SPEAKING FROM A SEATED POSITION IS NO LONGER COMFORTABLE.

NEAR PHASE: 350-700 CM

•FAR PHASE IS WHEN ORDINARY PEOPLE MEET IMPORTANT PUBLIC FIGURES

–FAR PHASE: > 700 CM

 

•SOCIOPETAL and SOCIOFUGAL ARRANGEMENTS:

SOCIOPETAL SETTINGS ARE SETTINGS THAT FACILITATE SOCIAL INTERACTION. EG. CIRCULAR ROOMS, DINING TABLE AT HOME

 

SOCIOFUGAL SETTINGS ARE SETTINGS THAT DISCOURAGE SOCIAL INTERACTION. EG. HALLWAYS, CHAIRS SEATED OUTWARD, AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER.

 

TERRITORIALITY

•OWNERSHIP OR RIGHTS TO A SPACE

•PERSONALIZATION OR MARKING

•THE RIGHT TO DEFEND AGAINST INTRUSION

•FUNCTIONS:

–PHYSIOLOGICAL / COGNITIVE / AESTHEIC NEEDS

•TERRITORIALITY INVOLVES:

–PHYSICAL SPACE,

–POSSESION,

–DEFENSE,

–EXCLUSIVENESS OF USE,

–MARKERS,

–PERSONALIZATION,

–AND IDENTITY.

 

TERRITORIES

•MAY BE CONTROLLED BY INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS

•ARE USUALLY PHYSICAL AND CONSIST OF SPACE

•SMALL SCALE SETTINGS SUCH AS A ROOM OR A RESIDENTIAL BLOCK MAY BE CONSIDERED AS A TERRITORY AS WELL AS CITIES AND NATIONS.

 

HUMAN TERRITORIALITY CONSISTS OF:

–PLACES

–IDEAS

–ARTIFACTS•FURNITURE AND BELONGINGS CAN BECOME TERRITORIES FOR PEOPLE.

 

ALTMAN’S SYSTEM OF CLASIFYING TERRITORIES

•PRIMARY TERRITORIES: Spaces owned by individuals or groups, they are regularly controlled, and central to daily lives.

–BEDROOM, home.

•SECONDARY TERRITORIES: less important than primary territories.

–Desk at OFFICE OR FAVORITE RESTAURANT, locker at gym. They can change or be shared.

•PUBLIC TERRITORIES: Open to anyone.

–Beaches, sidewalks, Bars. They can still be closed to certain people (homeless, etc.)

 

CROWDING

•A PERSON’S EXPERIENCE OF THE NUMBER OF OTHER PEOPLE AROUND.

•CROWDING IS A PERSONALLY DEFINED, SUBJECTIVE FEELING THAT TOO MANY OTHERS ARE AROUND.

•CROWDING IS AFFECTED BY PERSONAL, SITUATIONAL, AND CULTURAL FACTORS AS WELL AS DENSITY.

DENSITY

•IS A MEASURE OF THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS PER UNIT AREA.

IT IS AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION.