ABSTRACT
We have seen how the environmental impact upon the person’s emotional life can be understood in terms of the interplay between demands and resources provided by the external world. We now turn to a more detailed look at specific aspects of the environment that have been explored in this context. There are several possible ways in which this research could be categorised. For example we could use traditional categories such as noise, atmosphere, and urbanisation. However there are different problems with each classification. For example to focus on noise is to ignore stress imposed through other sense modalities—which has in fact been the case traditionally in environmental psychology. However more recently it is recognised that environments are experienced holistically and we do need to consider other aspects such as smell and visual impact. To talk of atmosphere generally invokes a vision of the natural atmosphere involving temperature, weather, and so on. What this ignores is the increasing importance of the human-made atmosphere involving chemical pollution. Urbanisation tends to invoke issues such as crowding, personal space, territoriality, and privacy. Again recent research shows that these variables are all part of one complete process and to understand their impact requires an understanding of their interdependence. In addition urbanisation generates other issues such as commuting, break-up of communities and social isolation, as well as influences upon perception. In this chapter we will first look at how the environment impacts upon the senses, in terms of noise, smell, colour, light and then consider the effects of weather and climate. The next chapter will look at the human role in self-damage through chemical pollution and technological disasters. Issues related to urbanisation will be reserved for Chapter 7.
