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Guidance and counseling

Notes Behavioral Geography studies the cognitive maps of the individual regarding his environment. It
traces environmental values, meanings and preferences. Behavioral maps are prepared relating
activities to surroundings. Lines to represent direction of movement, colors to represent time spent
and so on are techniques used in the preparation of such maps. Behavior maps can be prepared for
exploratory behavior, neighborhood feelings, etc. Environmental aesthetics studies preferences in
terms of aesthetic judgements. Recently attempts have been made to relate environmental preferences
to personality characteristics, race and national character (Hall 1976; Berry 1976).

24.1 Concept of Environmental Approach of Psychotherapy
Environmental psychology : is an interdisciplinary field focused on the interplay between humans
and their surroundings. The field defines the term environment broadly, encompassing natural
environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational
environments.
Since its conception, the field has been committed to the development of a discipline that is both
value oriented and problem oriented, prioritizing research aiming at solving complex environmental
problems in the pursuit of individual well-being within a larger society. When solving problems
involving human-environment interactions, whether global or local, one must have a model of
human nature that predicts the environmental conditions under which humans will behave in a
decent and creative manner. With such a model one can design, manage, protect and/or restore
environments that enhance reasonable behavior predict what the likely outcome will be when these
conditions are not met, and diagnose problem situations. The field develops such a model of human
nature while retaining a broad and inherently multidisciplinary focus. It explores such dissimilar
issues as common property resource management, way finding in complex settings, the effect of
environmental stress on human performance, the characteristics of restorative environments, human
information processing, and the promotion of durable conservation behavior.
This multidisciplinary paradigm has not only characterized the dynamic for which environmental
psychology is expected to develop, but it has been the catalyst in attracting other schools of knowledge
in its pursuit as well aside from research psychologists. Geographers, economists, policy-makers,
sociologists, anthropologists, educators, and product developers all have discovered and participated
in this field. Although “environmental psychology” is arguably the best-known and most
comprehensive description of the field, it is also known as human factors science, cognitive
ergonomics, environmental social sciences, architectural psychology, socio-architecture, ecological
psychology, ecopsychology, behavioral geography, environment-behavior studies, person-
environment studies, environmental sociology, social ecology, and environmental design research.

This field of Science took shape during the 1960s and ‘Environmental Psychology
and Population’ has been included as a division of the American Psychological
Association.

24.2 Historical Background of Environmental Approach

The origins of this field of study are unknown, however, Willy Hellpach is said to be the first to
mention “Environmental Psychology”. One of his books, Geopsyche discusses topics such as how
the sun and the moon affect human activity, the impact of extreme environments, and the effects of
color and form. Among the other major scholars at the roots of environmental psychology were
Jakob von Uexkull, Kurt Lewin, Egon Brunswik, and later Gerhard Kaminski and Carl Friedrich
Graumann.

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