Environmental Psychology

2. Below are some data from a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) on building energy use. The numbers (data) refer to energy use. To simplify the example, energy use is scaled on a 1 – 10 metric where 1 = low energy use and 10 = high energy use. Referring specifically to comparisons between particular values in the table, tell me where you see evidence for or against:

a. environmental determinism

For: Assuming that an environmentally friendly building has energy efficient amenities, all occupants will use energy. This is seen in the difference in energy usage between the people in the energy efficient building and regular building. Even the people who are environmentally unconcerned use less energy because the building is inherently more energy efficient.

Against: Even though an environmentally friendly building has energy efficient amenities, that would have no effect on the environmental habits or tendencies of the residents of the building. As a result, people who are environmentally unconcerned may use equal amounts of energy as those who are environmentally unconcerned in a non-environmentally friendly building.

b. cognitive appraisal

For: The setting will make participants more environmentally conscious. Environmentally concerned occupants decreased their energy usage by 5 as opposed to 3 (difference in energy efficiency for environmentally unconcerned). Therefore, individuals who cognitively appraise the building as efficient will use even less energy because they are more aware.

Against: If occupants are unable to appraise the energy efficiency of the building, cognitive appraisal would have no effect.

c. person-environment fit (congruence)

For: Environmentally concerned occupants decreased their energy usage by 5 as opposed to 3 (difference in energy efficiency for environmentally unconcerned). Therefore, individuals will use even less energy in an environment that they fit more.

Against:

If there is no person-environment fit in this scenario,...