Many people have heard the term “Nature vs. Nurture.” Basically, it means two general terms influence development: Environment, and homecare. It is easy to see how much a child grows from being raised by caretakers, but how much does the environment influence? Are the advertisements on our phone teaching us more then we realize? Is Our environment helpful, or working against us?
According to PsychologistWorld.com, “Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field that attempts to study the interplay between environment and psychology.” (Environmental Psychology, PsychologistWorld.com 2017) It is the study of the relationship between the individual and his environment. It has a variety of spectrums. Some examples include how an individual grows up in the city vs. the country, the development of children in big family’s vs small ones, and the transformation of behavior from one location to another, such as a person’s behavior in school vs. at home. In simplest terms, it is how an individual looks at the world, and is eventually influenced by what they perceive. (Environmental Psychology, PsychologistWorld.Com 2017)
Environments, to most people, crafts the image of physical climates. Summer, Winter, forests, or beaches. It is true that environmental study is done in physical climates, there are many other types that are studied in Environmental Psychology. “Environmental psychologists study the dynamics of person–environment interactions… They define the term environment very broadly, including all that is natural on the planet as well as built environments, social settings, cultural groups and informational environments.” (Environmental Psychologist, Psychology-Careers.com 2003-2017) Environmental Psychology can study how certain events effect the development children, or even the effects people experience from staying in hospitals for extended periods of time. Erin R. Hahn and Marybeth K. Garrett did a study in 2017 about how moral judgements are changed and influenced by evaluating and spectating their environment. They found that a child’s morals and their action-taking changes in the initial stages of childhood, and that “the studies provide preliminary evidence that children as young as 3 years view environmental behaviors in moral terms and that these early judgments are malleable.” (Preschoolers’ moral judgments of environmental harm and the influence of perspective taking, Hahn R, Erin, Garrett K, Marybeth November 2017) Even as young as 3, an individual can assess and understand the effects of their environment, and each person will experience them differently. Hypothetically, one person may experience a chilly winter morning with a sense of nostalgia, due to being raised in a cold climate, while another may despise it due to being raised in a warmer climate.
It is not only physical climate that can determine how a child develops from Environmental Psychology. Words and Nonverbal communication also fall under the spectrum. Regarding “Biting,” and “Ominous,” these are not words that are associated with a physical climate. These are, however, still climates that fall under Environmental Psychology. They are uncomfortable, and in some cases inhospitable. This creates a battle between the individual and his environment. “According to environmental psychologist John Calhoun, this is because, in order to avoid stress, a person needs a “defensible space” of some sort. It’s important that this space feel inalienable, as this offers a sense of security and comfort that is necessary for confident action.” (Environmental Psychology, Psychologist World.com, 2017) The individual is searching for a place of comfort, thus words like “Ominous” paint a foreboding picture. Like tense music during a horror movie, words color our surroundings and give meaning to an environment, making each unique and different.
So, since we now know what Environmental Psychology is, and how words effect it, let’s put it in gender comm terms. If a girl grows up hearing from numerous outlets (i.e family, friends, media, exc.) that women are at fault for catcalling, assault, and rape because of the clothes they wear, does her environmental mindstate thus connect that she is NOT a victim, but a perpetrator? If a boy grows up in the same circumstance, does he connect that women are sluts and/or “teases,” thus the violence is deserving? Either, way, these are two vastly similar Environmental climates that people experience everyday. Children grow up in these dangerous climates, and the chances of developing aggressive behavior in adolescence is higher. As stated previously, environment directly connects with individual cognitive development. It is up to us, the environmental crafters, to form a stronger, safer environment.