Social perception and environmental quality

Abstract

Proceeding from a general model as introduced by Stokols, some determinants of the subjective evaluation of environmental quality are analyzed. First the concept of behavior setting borrowed from Barker is discussed, because of its relevance for prediction. Craik and Zube's enumeration of environmental domains, which covers a broad range of environmental quality indices is taken as a starting point for a social psychological analysis of coping behavior with regard to aggravating environmental events. The stress model of Lazarus seems most relevant in this context. According to this model, a process of appraisal is steered by the interaction of antecedent situational or ecological cues and dispositional personality traits, beliefs and cognitive styles. In line with Lazarus' stress model, it is contended that personality variables and beliefs strongly influence the process of coping, whereas social psychological processes like attribution, social comparison and dissonance reduction can be considered as intervening variables in the process of appraisal. An application with regard to noise stress is given; the implications of the above-mentioned distinctions are summarized in an overall process model. Finally a tentative prediction model for noise stress, based upon Stokols' categories is presented. Taking into account that the individual is the primary unit of analysis, specifications are given for each basic category; that is the physiological, phychological, physical-, social- and cultural environments.