Abstract:

A review of research and theory on transactions between people and physical environments emphasizes new contributions to theory and empirical research published in major journals of environmental psychology, 1989–1994. Theories focused on arousal, load, stress, privacy-regulation, behavior settings, and transactional analysis; new theory increasingly incorporated situational and contextual variables. Empirical research emphasized field settings over the laboratory and employed increasingly diverse methods, populations, and cultures. Environmental design studies integrated scientific and applied goals through post-occupancy evaluation. New findings concerned features of residences, work places, hospitals, schools, prisons, and larger community environments. New studies also addressed environmental stressors (e.g. temperature, noise); effects of attitudes and behaviors on conservation, crime, pollution, and hazards; and issues for neighborhoods, public places, and natural environments. Directions for the future include integrated theory to guide research, more design experiments, and development of conventions for case studies.