A programmable chemical oscillator made from DNA (credit: Ella Maru Studio and Cody Geary)
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin
have programmed DNA molecules to follow specific instructions to create
sophisticated molecular machines that could be capable of
communication, signal processing, problem-solving, decision-making, and
control of motion in living cells — the kind of computation previously
only possible with electronic circuits.
Future applications may include health care, advanced materials, and nanotechnology.
As a demonstration, the researchers constructed a first-of-its-kind
chemical oscillator that uses only DNA components — no proteins, enzymes
or other cellular components — to create a classic chemical reaction
network (CRN) called a “rock-paper-scissors oscillator.” The goal was to
show that DNA alone is capable of precise, complex behavior.
A
systematic pipeline for programming DNA-only dynamical systems and the
implementation of a chemical oscillator (credit: Niranjan Srinivas et
al./Science)
Chemical oscillators have long been studied by engineers and
scientists. For example, the researchers who discovered the chemical
oscillator that controls the human circadian rhythm — responsible for
our bodies’ day and night rhythm — earned the 2017 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
“As engineers, we are very good at building sophisticated
electronics, but biology uses complex chemical reactions inside cells to
do many of the same kinds of things, like making decisions,” said David Soloveichik, an
assistant professor in the Cockrell School’s Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering and senior author of a paper in the journal Science.
“Eventually, we want to be able to interact with the chemical
circuits of a cell, or fix malfunctioning circuits or even reprogram
them for greater control. But in the near term, our DNA circuits could
be used to program the behavior of cell-free chemical systems that
synthesize complex molecules, diagnose complex chemical signatures, and
respond to their environments.”
The team’s research was conducted as part of the National Science
Foundation’s (NSF) Molecular Programming Project and funded by the NSF,
the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Health, and the
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Programming a Chemical Oscillator
Abstract of Enzyme-free nucleic acid dynamical systems
An important goal of synthetic biology is to create biochemical
control systems with the desired characteristics from scratch. Srinivas et al.
describe the creation of a biochemical oscillator that requires no
enzymes or evolved components, but rather is implemented through DNA
molecules designed to function in strand displacement cascades.
Furthermore, they created a compiler that could translate a formal
chemical reaction network into the necessary DNA sequences that could
function together to provide a specified dynamic behavior.
Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary
field that focuses on the interplay between individuals and their
surroundings. The field defines the term environment broadly,
encompassing natural environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational environments.
Since its conception, the field has been committed to the development of a discipline that is both value oriented and problem oriented, prioritizing research aimed at solving complex environmental problems in the pursuit of individual well-being within a larger society.[1] When solving problems involving human-environment interactions,
whether global or local, one must have a model of human nature that
predicts the environmental conditions under which humans will respond well.
This model can help design, manage, protect and/or restore environments
that enhance reasonable behavior, predict the likely outcomes when
these conditions are not met, and diagnose problem situations. The field
develops such a model of human nature while retaining a broad and
inherently multidisciplinary focus. It explores such dissimilar issues
as common property resource management, wayfinding in complex settings, the effect of environmental stress on human performance, the characteristics of restorative environments, human information processing,
and the promotion of durable conservation behavior. Lately, alongside
the increased focus on climate change in society and the social sciences
and the re-emergence of limits-to-growth concerns, there has been
increased focus on environmental sustainability issues within the field.[2]
This multidisciplinary paradigm has not only characterized the
dynamic for which environmental psychology is expected to develop. It
has also been the catalyst in attracting other schools of knowledge in
its pursuit, aside from research psychologists. Geographers, economists, landscape architects, policy-makers, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, and product developers all have discovered and participated in this field.[1]
The origins of this field of study are unknown, however, Willy Hellpach is said to be the first to mention "environmental psychology". One of his books, Geopsyche,
discusses topics such as how the sun and the moon affect human
activity, the impact of extreme environments, and the effects of color
and form (Pol, E., 2006, Blueprints for a history of environmental psychology (I): From first birth to American transition.
"Medio Ambiente y Comportamiento Humano", 7(2), 95-113). Among the
other major scholars at the roots of environmental psychology were Jakob von Uexküll, Kurt Lewin, Egon Brunswik, and later Gerhard Kaminski and Carl Friedrich Graumann.[3]
The end of World War II brought about a higher demand for developments in the field of social psychology particularly in the areas of attitude change, small group processes,
and intergroup conflict. This demand caused psychologists to begin
applying social psychology theories to a number of social issues such as
prejudice, war and peace. It was thought that if these problems were addressed, underlying notions and principles would surface.
Although this period was crucial to the development of the field,
the methodologies used to carry out the studies were questionable.[according to whom?] At the time, studies were being conducted in a laboratory setting, which caused some doubt[to whom?] as to their validity in the real world. Consequently, environmental psychologists began to conduct studies outside of the laboratory, enabling the field to continue to progress.[citation needed]
Today environmental psychology is being applied to many different areas
such as architecture and design, television programs and
advertisements.
[4]
Orientations
Problem oriented
Environmental
psychology is a direct study of the relationship between an environment
and how that environment affects its inhabitants. Specific aspects of
this field work by identifying a problem and through the identification
of said problem, discovering a solution. Therefore, it is necessary for
environmental psychology to be problem oriented.
One important aspect of a problem-oriented field is that by
identifying problems, solutions arise from the research acquired. The
solutions can aid in making society function better as a whole and
create a wealth of knowledge about the inner workings of societies.
Environmental psychologist Harold Proshansky discusses how the field is
also "value oriented" because of the field's commitment to bettering
society through problem identification.[5]
Proshansky discusses the importance of not only understanding the
problem but also the necessity of a solution. Proshansky also points out
some of the problems of a problem-oriented approach for environmental
psychology. First the problems being identified must be studied under
certain specifications: it must be ongoing and occurring in real life,
not in a laboratory. Second, the notions about the problems must derive
directly from the source – meaning they must come directly from the
specific environment where the problem is occurring.[5] The solutions and understanding of the problems cannot come from an
environment that has been constructed and modeled to look like real
life. Environmental psychology needs to reflect the actual society not a
society built in a laboratory setting. The difficult task of the
environmental psychologist is to study problems as they are occurring in
everyday life.[6]
It is hard to reject all laboratory research because laboratory
experiments are where theories may be tested without damaging the actual
environment or can serve as models when testing solutions. Proshansky
makes this point as well, discussing the difficulty in the overall
problem oriented approach. He states that it is important, however, for
the environmental psychologist to utilize all aspects of research and
analysis of the findings and to take into account both the general and
individualized aspects of the problems.[7]
Environmental psychology addresses environmental problems such as density and crowding, noise pollution, sub-standard living, and urban decay.[5]
Noise increases environmental stress. Although it has been found that
control and predictability are the greatest factors in stressful effects
of noise; context, pitch, source and habituation are also important
variables [3]. Environmental psychologists have theorized that density
and crowding can also have an adverse effect on mood and may cause stress-related illness.
To understand and solve environmental problems, environmental
psychologists believe concepts and principles should come directly from
the physical settings and problems being looked at.[5] For example, factors that reduce feelings of crowding within buildings include:
Windows – particularly ones that can be opened and ones that provide a view as well as light
High ceilings
Doors to divide spaces (Baum and Davies)[full citation needed] and provide access control
Room shape – square rooms feel less crowded than rectangular ones (Dresor)[full citation needed]
Using partitions to create smaller, personalized spaces within an open plan office or larger work space.
Providing increases in cognitive control over aspects of the internal environment, such as ventilation, light, privacy, etc.
Conducting a cognitive appraisal of an environment and feelings of
crowding in different settings. For example, one might be comfortable
with crowding at a concert but not in school corridors.
Having
an area of personal territory in a public space, e.g., at the office,
is a key feature of many architectural designs. Having such a
'defensible space' can reduce the negative effects of crowding in urban
environments. The term, coined by John B. Calhoun
in 1947, is the result of multiple environmental experiments conducted
on rats. Originally beginning as an experiment to measure how many rats
could be accommodated in a given space, it expanded into determining how
rats, given the proper food, shelter and bedding would behave under a
confined environment.
Under these circumstances, the males became aggressive, some
exclusively homosexual. Others became pansexual and hypersexual, seeking
every chance to mount any rat they encountered. As a result, mating
behaviors were upset with an increase in infant mortalities. With
parents failing to provide proper nests, thoughtlessly ditching their
young and even attacking them, infant mortality rose as high as 96% in
certain sections. Calhoun published the results as "Population Density
and Social Pathology" in a 1962 edition of Scientific American.[8]
Creating barriers and customizing the space are ways of creating
personal space, e.g., using pictures of one's family in an office
setting. This increases cognitive control as one sees oneself as having
control over the competitors to the personal space and therefore able to
control the level of density and crowding in the space.
Systems oriented
The
systems oriented approach to experimenting is applied to individuals or
people that are a part of communities, groups, and organizations. This
approach particularly examines group interaction, as opposed to an
individual's interaction and it emphasizes on factors of social
integration. In the laboratory, experiments focus on cause and effect
processes within human nature.[9]
Interdisciplinary oriented
Environmental
psychology relies on interaction with other disciplines in order to
approach problems with multiple perspectives. The first discipline is
the category of behavioral sciences, which include: sociology, political
science, anthropology, and economics. Environmental psychology also
interacts with the interspecializations of the field of psychology,
which include: developmental psychology, cognitive science, industrial and organizational psychology, psychobiology, psychoanalysis,[10]
and social neuroscience. In addition to the more scientific fields of
study, environmental psychology also works with the design field which
includes: the studies of architecture, interior design, urban planning,
industrial and object design, landscape architecture, and preservation.[11]
Space-over-time orientation
Space
over time orientation highlights the importance of the past. Examining
problems with the past in mind creates a better understanding of how
past forces, such as social, political, and economic forces, may be of
relevance to present and future problems.[12]
Time and place are also important to consider. It's important to look
at time over extended periods. Physical settings change over time; they
change with respect to physical properties and they change because
individuals using the space change over time.[13] Looking at these spaces over time will help monitor the changes and possibly predict future problems.
There are a variety of tests that can be administered to children
in order to determine their temperament. Temperament is split up into
three types: "easy", "difficult", and "slow-to-warm-up". Alexander
Thomas, Stella Chess, Herbert G. Birch, Margaret Hertzig and Sam Korn
created an infant temperament test in the 1950s and rated them using
nine temperament criteria.[14] By finding out a child's temperament at birth, it enables us to know what to expect as the child progresses into adulthood.
Concepts
Place identity
For many years Harold Proshansky and his colleagues at the Graduate
School and University Center of the City University of New York,
explored the concept of place identity. Place identity has been
traditionally defined as a 'sub-structure of the self-identity of the
person consisting of broadly conceived cognitions about the physical
world in which the individual lives'.[15]
These cognitions define the daily experiences of every human being.
Through one's attitudes, feelings, ideas, memories, personal values and
preferences toward the range and type of physical settings, he/she can
then understand the environment they live in and their overall
experience.
As a person interacts with various places and spaces, he/she is
able to evaluate which properties in different environments fulfill
his/her various needs. When a place contains components that satisfy a
person biologically, socially, psychologically and/or culturally, it
creates the environmental past of a person. Through 'good' or 'bad'
experiences with a place, a person is then able to reflect and define
their personal values, attitudes, feelings and beliefs about the
physical world.
Place identity has been described as the individual's
incorporation of place into the larger concept of self; a "potpourri of
memories, conceptions, interpretations, ideas, and related feelings
about specific physical settings, as well as types of settings".[16]
Other theorists have been instrumental in the creation of the idea of
place identity. Three humanistic geographers, Tuan (1980), Relph (1976)
and Buttimer (1980),[full citation needed]
share a couple of basic assumptions. As a person lives and creates
memories within a place, attachment is built and it is through one's
personal connection to a place, that he/she gains a sense of belonging
and purpose, which then gives significance and meaning to their life.
Five central functions of place-identity have been depicted:
recognition, meaning, expressive-requirement, mediating change, and
anxiety and defense function. Place identity becomes a cognitive
"database" against which every physical setting is experienced.[16]
The activities of a person often overlap with physical settings, which
then create a background for the rest of life's interactions and events.
The individual is frequently unaware of the array of feelings, values
or memories of a singular place and simply becomes more comfortable or
uncomfortable with certain broad kinds of physical settings, or prefers
specific spaces to others. In the time since the term "place identity"
was introduced, the theory has been the model for identity that has
dominated environmental psychology.
Place attachment
Many different perceptions of the bond between people and places have
been hypothesized and studied. The most widespread terms include place
attachment[17] and sense of place.[18]
One consistent thread woven throughout most recent research on place
attachment deals with the importance of the amount of time spent at a
certain place (the length of association with a place). While both
researchers and writers[19]
have made the case that time and experience in a place are important
for deepening the meanings and emotional ties central to the
person-place relationship, little in-depth research has studied these
factors and their role in forging this connection.[20]
Place attachment is defined as one's emotional or affective ties
to a place, and is generally thought to be the result of a long-term
connection with a certain environment.[21]
This is different from a simple aesthetic response such as saying a
certain place is special because it is beautiful. For example, one can
have an emotional response to a beautiful (or ugly) landscape or place,
but this response may sometimes be shallow and fleeting. This
distinction is one that Schroeder labeled "meaning versus preference".
According to Schroeder the definition of "meaning" is "the thoughts,
feelings, memories and interpretations evoked by a landscape"; whereas
"preference" is "the degree of liking for one landscape compared to
another".[22]
For a deeper and lasting emotional attachment to develop (Or in
Schroeder's terms, for it to have meaning) an enduring relationship with
a place is usually a critical factor.[23]
Chigbu carried out a rural study of place-attachment using a
qualitative approach to check its impact on a community, Uturu (in
Nigeria), and found that it has direct relationship to level of
community development.[24]
Environmental consciousness
Leanne Rivlin
theorized that one way to examine an individual's environmental
consciousness is to recognize how the physical place is significant, and
look at the people/place relationship.
Environmental cognition (involved in human cognition) plays a
crucial role in environmental perception.
All different areas of the brain engage with environmentally relevant
information. Some believe that the orbitofrontal cortex integrates
environmentally relevant information from many distributed areas of the
brain. Due to its anterior location within the frontal cortex, the
orbitofrontal cortex may make judgments about the environment, and
refine the organism's "understanding" through error analysis, and other
processes specific to prefrontal cortex. But to be certain, there is no
single brain area dedicated to the organism's interactions with its
environment. Rather, all brain areas are dedicated to this task. One
area (probably the orbitofrontal cortex) may collate the various pieces
of the informational puzzle in order to develop a long term strategy of
engagement with the ever-changing "environment." Moreover, the
orbitofrontal cortex may show the greatest change in blood oxygenation
(BOLD level) when an organism thinks of the broad, and amorphous
category referred to as "the environment."[25]
Because of the recent concern with the environment, environmental
consciousness or awareness has come to be related to the growth and
development of understanding and consciousness toward the biophysical
environment and its problems.[citation needed]
Behavior settings
The earliest noteworthy discoveries in the field of environmental psychology can be dated back to Roger Barker
who created the field of ecological psychology. Founding his research
station in Oskaloosa, Kansas in 1947, his field observations expanded
into the theory that social settings influence behavior. Empirical data
gathered in Oskaloosa from 1947 to 1972 helped him develop the concept
of the "behavior setting" to help explain the relationship between the
individual and the immediate environment. This was further explored in
his work with Paul Gump in the book Big School, Small School: High School Size and Student Behavior.[citation needed]
One of the first insightful explanations on why groups tend to be less
satisfying for their members as they increase in size, their studies
illustrated that large schools had a similar number of behavior settings
to that of small schools. This resulted in the students' ability to
presume many different roles in small schools (e.g. be in the school
band and the school football team) but in larger schools there was a
propensity to deliberate over their social choices.
In his book Ecological Psychology (1968) Barker stresses
the importance of the town's behavior and environment as the residents'
most ordinary instrument of describing their environment. "The hybrid,
eco-behavioral character of behavior settings appear to present
Midwest's inhabitants with no difficulty; nouns that combine milieu and
standing behavior are common, e.g. oyster supper, basketball game,
turkey dinner, golden gavel ceremony, cake walk, back surgery, gift
exchange, livestock auction, auto repair."[26]
Barker argued that his students should implement T-methods
(psychologist as 'transducer': i.e. methods in which they studied man in
his 'natural environment') rather than O-methods (psychologist as
"operators" i.e. experimental methods). Basically, Barker preferred
fieldwork and direct observation rather than controlled experiments.
Some of the minute-by-minute observations of Kansan children from
morning to night, jotted down by young and maternal graduate students,
may be the most intimate and poignant documents in social science.
Barker spent his career expanding on what he called ecological
psychology, identifying these behavior settings, and publishing accounts
such as One Boy's Day (1952) and Midwest and Its Children (1955).
Applications
Impact on the built environment
Environmental
psychologists rejected the laboratory-experimental paradigm because of
its simplification and skewed view of the cause-and-effect relationships
of human's behaviors and experiences. Environmental psychologists
examine how one or more parameters produce an effect while other
measures are controlled. It is impossible to manipulate real-world
settings in a laboratory.[1]
Environmental psychology is oriented towards influencing the work
of design professionals (architects, engineers, interior designers,
urban planners, etc.) and thereby improving the human environment.
On a civic scale, efforts towards improving pedestrian landscapes
have paid off, to some extent, from the involvement of figures like Jane Jacobs and Copenhagen's Jan Gehl. One prime figure here is the late writer and researcher William H. Whyte.
His still-refreshing and perceptive "City", based on his accumulated
observations of skilled Manhattan pedestrians, provides steps and
patterns of use in urban plazas.
The role and impact of architecture on human behavior is debated
within the architectural profession. Views range from: supposing that
people will adapt to new architectures and city forms; believing that
architects cannot predict the impact of buildings on humans and
therefore should base decisions on other factors; to those who undertake
detailed precedent studies of local building types and how they are
used by that society.
Environmental psychology has conquered the whole architectural
genre which is concerned with retail stores and any other commercial
venues that have the power to manipulate the mood and behavior of
customers (e.g. stadiums, casinos, malls, and now airports). From Philip Kotler's landmark paper on Atmospherics and Alan Hirsch's "Effects of Ambient Odors on Slot-Machine Usage in a Las Vegas Casino", through the creation and management of the Gruen transfer,
retail relies heavily on psychology, original research, focus groups,
and direct observation. One of William Whyte's students, Paco Underhill, makes a living as a "shopping anthropologist". Most of this advanced research remains a trade secret and proprietary.
Organizations
Project for Public Spaces
(PPS) is a nonprofit organization that works to improve public spaces,
particularly parks, civic centers, public markets, downtowns, and
campuses. The staff of PPS is made up of individuals trained in
environmental design, architecture, urban planning, urban geography,
urban design, environmental psychology, landscape architecture, arts
administration and information management. The organization has
collaborated with many major institutions to improve the appearance and
functionality of public spaces throughout the United States. In 2005,
PPS co-founded The New York City Streets Renaissance, a campaign that
worked to develop a new campaign model for transportation reform. This
initiative implemented the transformation of excess sidewalk space in
the Meatpacking District of Manhattan into public space. Also, by 2008, New York City reclaimed 49 acres (200,000 m2) of traffic lanes and parking spots away from cars and gave it back to the public as bike lanes and public plazas.[citation needed]
The Center for Human Environments at the CUNY Graduate Center
is a research organization that examines the relationship between
people and their physical settings. CHE has five subgroups that
specialize in aiding specific populations: The Children's Environments
Research Group, the Health and Society Research Group, the Housing
Environments Research Group, the Public Space Research Group, and the
Youth Studies Research Group.[27]
The
field saw significant research findings and a fair surge of interest in
the late 1970s and early 1980s, but has seen challenges of
nomenclature, obtaining objective and repeatable results, scope, and the
fact that some research rests on underlying assumptions about human
perception, which is not fully understood. Being an interdisciplinary
field is difficult because it lacks a solid definition and purpose. It
is hard for the field to fit into organizational structures.[28]
In the words of Guido Francescato, speaking in 2000, environmental
psychology encompasses a "somewhat bewildering array of disparate
methodologies, conceptual orientations, and interpretations... making it
difficult to delineate, with any degree of precision, just what the
field is all about and what might it contribute to the construction of
society and the unfolding of history."
Environmental psychology has not received nearly enough
supporters to be considered an interdisciplinary field within
psychology. Harold M. Proshanksy was one of the founders of
environmental psychology and was quoted as saying "As I look at the
field of environmental psychology today, I am concerned about its
future. It has not, since its emergence in the early 1960s grown to the
point where it can match the fields of social, personality, learning or
cognitive psychology. To be sure, it has increased in membership, in the
number of journals devoted to it, and even in the amount of
professional organizational support it enjoys, but not enough so that
one could look at any major university and find it to be a field of
specialization in a department of psychology, or, more importantly, in
an interdisciplinary center or institute".[29]
University courses
Antioch University New England
Graduate School offers graduate programs involving environmental
education through a planning approach. With environmental psychology
being such a diverse field with many different approaches, students have
a variety of programs to choose from.
Arizona State University offers a master's in Environmental Resources, which takes more of a planning approach to the field.
The Environmental Psychology Ph.D program at the CUNY Graduate Center
takes a multidisciplinary approach to examining and changing "the
serious problems associated with the urban environment with a view
towards affecting public policy" using social science theory and
research methods. The GC-CUNY was the first academic institution in the
U.S. to grant a PhD in Environmental Psychology. As discussed in detail
on the program website, "recent research has addressed the experiences
of recently housed homeless people, the privatization of public space,
socio-spatial conflicts, children's safety in the public environment,
relocation, community based approaches to housing, the design of
specialized environments such as museums, zoos, gardens and hospitals,
the changing relationships between home, family and work, the
environmental experiences of gay men and lesbians, and access to parks
and other urban 'green spaces'."[30] See also The Center for Human Environments.
Cornell University's
department of Design and Environmental Analysis offers undergraduate
and graduate (Master of Science in Human Environment Relations, Master
of Arts in Design, and Ph.D in Human Behavior and Design) studies in
environmental psychology, interior design, sustainable design studies,
human factors and ergonomics, and facility planning and management.[31]
Drexel University
offers a Master of Science degree in Design Research. Of two degree
paths, the Environmental Design and Health path includes study with
community practitioners and researchers in design and related fields,
including health, community design, and public policy. Research
typically includes data collection and engaged research practices of
design thinking and participatory design. This area of investigation has
potential to create innovative health and educational partnerships,
economic opportunities and neighborhood initiatives and relates to the
strategic mission of the university to be highly engaged in civic
sustainability.[32]
The Ohio State University
City & Regional Planning Program, in the School of Architecture,
offers a specialization in environmental psychology (urban
design/physical planning and behavior) at both the master's and PhD
level. Dissertations have examined such topics as environmental
aesthetics, spatial cognition, ethnic enclaves, neighborhood decline,
neighborhood satisfaction, restorative and livable places, and behavior
change.
Prescott College
offers a master's program that incorporates a number of the foundations
of environmental psychology as well. The sub-fields in which the
program provides includes environmental education, environmental
studies, ecology, botany, resource policy, and planning. Another
description about the program is as follows: "(The program) Includes
instruction in contextual theory; statistics; physiological, social, and
psychological responses to natural and technological hazards and
disease; environmental perception and cognition; loneliness and stress;
and psychological aspects of environmental design and planning."[This quote needs a citation]
University of California, Irvine
offers a doctoral specialization in Design & Behavior Research
within the Department of Planning, Policy, and Design in the School of Social Ecology,
and undergraduate coursework in Environmental Psychology offered
jointly by the Departments of Psychology and Social Behavior, Planning,
Policy, and Design, and the Program in Public Health.[33]
The University of Michigan offers Master of Science and Master of Arts degrees in its new School for Sustainability and Environment (SEAS).
The focus is on how people affect and are affected by environments, and
includes a pragmatic approach to promoting environmental stewardship
behavior, as well as a focus on how "nearby nature" affects people's
mental vitality, physical health and well-being. An emerging theme is
helping people to remain optimistic while learning to respond well to
increasingly difficult biophysical circumstances.
Another strain of environmental psychology developed out of ergonomics in the 1960s. The beginning of this movement can be traced back to David Canter's work and the founding of the "Performance Research Unit" at the University of Strathclyde
in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1966, which expanded traditional ergonomics to
study broader issues relating to the environment and the extent to
which human beings were "situated" within it (cf situated cognition).
Canter led the field in the UK for years and was the editor of the Journal of Environmental Psychology for over 20 years, but has recently turned his attention to criminology.
The University of Surrey
was the first institution that offered an architectural psychology
course in the UK starting in 1973. Since then, there have been over 250
graduates from over 25 countries. The Environmental Psychology Research
Group (EPRG) within the University of Surrey, of which students on the
M.Sc in Environmental Psychology are automatically members, has been
undertaking research for more than thirty years. EPRG's mission is to
gain a better understanding of the environmental and psychological
effects of space, no matter the size, with help from social sciences,
psychology, and methodologies. There are four categories under which the
research projects fall: sustainable development, environmental risk,
architectural assessment and environmental design, and environmental
education and interpretation. Other universities in the UK now offer
courses on the subject, which is an expanding field.
Other significant researchers and writers in this field include:
Irwin Altman Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Utah
Robert Gifford, Ph.D. Department of Psychology University of Victoria. Current Editor of the Journal of Environmental Psychology and author of Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice (5th edition, 2014).
James J. Gibson, Best known for coining the word affordance, a description of what the environment offers the animal in terms of action
Roger Hart
Professor of Environmental Psychology, Director of the Center for Human
Environments and the Children's Environments Research Group, The
Graduate Center, City University of New York
Rachel and Stephen Kaplan
Professors of psychology at the University of Michigan, the Kaplans are
known for their research on the effect of nature on people's
relationships and health, including Attention Restoration Theory and are renowned in the field of environmental psychology
Cindi Katz Professor of Environmental Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Dak Kopec
Professor and Director of Design for Human Health, Boston Architectural
College, Boston MA; Author Environmental Psychology for Design 2nd
Edition (2012) and Health, Sustainability and The Built Environment
(2008).
Setha Low Professor of Environmental Psychology and Director of the Public Space Research Group, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Kevin A. Lynch and his research into the formation of mental maps
Francis T. McAndrew Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology at Knox College and author of "Environmental Psychology" (1993).
Robert Sommer, a pioneer of the field who first studied personal space in the 1950s and is perhaps best known for his 1969 book Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design, but is also the author of numerous other books, including Design Awareness, and hundreds of articles.
Daniel Stokols, Chancellor's Professor, School of Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine; edited Handbook of Environmental Psychology with Irwin Altman; author, Perspectives on Environment and Behavior; co-author, Health, Behavior, and Environmental Stress with Sheldon Cohen, Gary Evans, and David Krantz
Allan Wicker, who expanded behavior setting theories to include other areas of study, including qualitative research, and social psychology.
Gary Winkel Professor of Environmental Psychology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
James A. Swan
professor, media producer and writer who authored one of the first
popular articles on environmental education, produced symposiums on the
Gaia Hypothesis and the significance of place, produced several
documentary films on environmental topics and Co-Executive Producer of
the "Wild Justice" TV series on the National Geographic Channel.
But now he’s come out and said that be believes the only way for
artificial intelligence to realize its true potential is with a dose of
inspiration from human intellect.
Currently, most AI systems are based on layers of mathematics that
are only loosely inspired by the way the human brain works. But
different types of machine learning, such as speech recognition or
identifying objects in an image, require different mathematical structures, and the resulting algorithms are only able to perform very specific tasks.
Building AI that can perform general tasks, rather than niche ones,
is a long-held desire in the world of machine learning. But the truth
is that expanding those specialized algorithms to something more
versatile remains an incredibly difficult problem, in part because human
traits like inquisitiveness, imagination, and memory don’t exist or are
only in their infancy in the world of AI.
In a paper published today in the journal Neuron,
Hassabis and three coauthors argue that only by better understanding
human intelligence can we hope to push the boundaries of what artificial
intellects can achieve.
First, they say, better understanding of how the brain works will
allow us to create new structures and algorithms for electronic
intelligence. Second, lessons learned from building and testing
cutting-edge AIs could help us better define what intelligence really
is.
The paper itself reviews the history of neuroscience and artificial
intelligence to understand the interactions between the two. It argues
that deep learning, which uses layers of artificial neurons to understand inputs, and reinforcement learning, where systems learn by trial and error, both owe a great deal to neuroscience.
But it also points out that more recent advances haven’t leaned on
biology as effectively, and that a general intelligence will need more
human-like characteristics—such as an intuitive understanding of the real world and more efficient ways of learning.
The solution, Hassabis and his colleagues argue, is a renewed “exchange
of ideas between AI and neuroscience [that] can create a 'virtuous
circle' advancing the objectives of both fields.”
Hassabis is not alone in this kind of thinking. Gary Marcus, a
professor of psychology at New York University and former director of
Uber’s AI lab, has argued that machine-learning systems could be improved using ideas gathered by studying the cognitive development of children.
Even so, implementing those findings digitally won’t be easy. As Hassabis explains in an interview with the Verge,
artificial intelligence and neuroscience have become “two very, very
large fields that are steeped in their own traditions,” which makes it
“quite difficult to be expert in even one of those fields, let alone expert enough in both that you can translate and find connections between them.”
Ecopsychology studies the relationship between human beings and the natural world through ecological and psychological principles.
The field seeks to develop and understand ways of expanding the
emotional connection between individuals and the natural world, thereby
assisting individuals with developing sustainable lifestyles and
remedying alienation from nature. Theodore Roszak is credited with coining the term in his 1992 book, The Voice of the Earth,
although a group of psychologists and environmentalists in Berkeley,
including Mary Gomes and Allen Kanner, were independently using the term
to describe their own work at the same time. Roszak, Gomes and Kanner
later expanded the idea in the 1995 anthology Ecopsychology. Two other books were especially formative for the field, Paul Shepard's
1982 volume, "Nature and Madness," which explored the effect that our
ever-diminishing engagement with wild nature had upon human
psychological development, and philosopher David Abram's The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World,
published in 1996. The latter was the first widely read book to bring
phenomenology to bear on ecological and ecopsychological issues,
examining in detail the earthly dimensions of sensory experience, and
disclosing the historical effect of formal writing systems upon the
human experience of nature's agency, voice, and interiority.
A central premise of ecopsychology is that while today the human
mind is affected and shaped by the modern social world, its deep
structure is inevitably adapted to, and informed by, the more-than-human
natural environment in which it evolved.[2] According to the biophilia hypothesis of biologist E.O. Wilson, human beings have an innate instinct to connect emotionally with nature,[3][4] particularly the aspects of nature that recall what evolutionary psychologists have termed the environment of evolutionary adaptiveness, the natural conditions that the human species evolved to inhabit.
The field of ecopsychology extends beyond the conventional
purview of psychology, which had traditionally considered the psyche to
be a matter of relevance to humans alone. Ecopsychology examines why
people continue environmentally damaging behaviour, and to develop
methods of positive motivation for adopting sustainable practices.[3]
Evidence suggests that many environmentally damaging behaviours are
addictive at some level, and thus are more effectively addressed through
positive emotional fulfillment rather than by inflicting shame. Other
names used to refer to ecopsychology include depth ecology, Gaia
psychology,[5] psychoecology, ecotherapy, environmental psychology, green psychology, transpersonal ecology, global therapy, green therapy, Earth-centered therapy, reearthing, nature-based psychotherapy, shamanic counselling, ecosophy[6] and sylvan therapy.
Practical benefits
Certain
researchers propose that an individual's connection to nature can
improve their interpersonal relationships and emotional wellbeing.[5] An integral part of this practice is to remove psychotherapy, and the individual, from the interior of office buildings and homes and place them outdoors.[3] According to the precepts of ecopsychology, a walk in the woods or a
city park is refreshing because it is what humans evolved to do.
Psychologists such as Roger Ulrich, Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, Frances
Kuo and others have studied the beneficial effects of inhabiting natural
settings and of looking at pictures of landscapes on the human psyche. Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder discusses in detail how the exposure of children to nature can assist in treating mental disorders, including attention deficit disorder.[7] Community psychologist Guy Holmes'
Walk and Talk groups have helped people with serious mental health
diagnoses alongside other members of the general public to access the
benefits of walking in green spaces in UK towns and cities.[8]
Gardening is one way to experience the practical benefits of
connecting with nature, particularly in the contexts of stress
reduction, restoration, and awareness. Initial experimental research
about stress-relieving effects showed subjects who gardened after
situations of acute stress were able to fully recover from the event and
their cortisol level measurements indicated positive mood increases
after gardening.[9]
The psychological benefits of interactions with nature appear
intensified at a smaller, more compressed scale in gardens, offering an
accessible, fast-paced view of plant life cycles.[10] Also, the practice of domestic gardening can improve sense of self-efficacy across ages, particularly among the elderly.[11]
Psychologists are also interested in the ways plants influence
attention and healing. Plants are attributed as sources of positive
distraction, shifting the focus from sensations of discomfort to
aesthetic properties of plants, which creates perceived alleviation of
pain.[12]
Individuals who have the opportunity to reconnect with nature through
horticultural practices and in the wilderness can restore perceived
sense of social connection, joy, and health.[13] Interacting with nature is a practical preventative measure against mental-health issues that stem from rumination. When a group of participants in one study went on a walk in nature they
expressed lower levels of rumination and showed diminished neural
activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, an area tied to mental
illness, while participants who walked through urban settings
experienced no changes in either respect.[14]
Another premise of ecopsychology is that steps taken to accept
and notice nature can sharpen the senses and help people cultivate new
skills. For example, the ability to track and navigate through a
wilderness is improved if nature is noticed and accepted rather than
feared. Similarly, ecopsychology proposes that sailors who appreciate
the sea gain a keen sense for breeze directions. Psychologists have
explored how senses subtly influence the brain in natural environments
and impact a person's subjective well-being. Plants in the visual sphere
affect the brain whether or not they are the object of focus and the
blue and green hues of nature may contribute to low-anxiety
psychological states.
Reasons to embrace nature
Ecopsychology explores how to develop emotional bonds with nature.[1]
It considers this to be worthwhile because when nature is explored and
viewed without judgement, it gives the sensations of harmony, balance,
timelessness and stability. Ecopsychology largely rejects reductionist views of nature that focus upon rudimentary building blocks such as genes,
and that describe nature as selfish and a struggle to survive.
Ecopsychology considers that there has been insufficient scientific
description and exploration of nature, in terms of wildness, parsimony, spirituality and emotional ties. For example, parsimony is the best way to produce an evolutionary tree of the species (cladistics),
suggesting that parsimonious adaptations are selected. Yet today, the
brain is often seen as complicated and governed by inherited mind
modules, rather than being a simple organ that looks for parsimony
within the influences of its surroundings, resulting in the compaction
in minds of a great diversity of concepts.
Cultures that embrace nature
In
its exploration of how to bond with nature, ecopsychology is interested
in the examples provided by a wide variety of ancient and modern
cultures that have histories of embracing nature. Examples include aboriginal, pagan, Jain, Buddhist, and Hindu cultures, as well as shamanism and the more recent hesychast
tradition. Of interest is how identity becomes entwined with nature, so
that loss of those sacred places is far more devastating to indigenous
people than often understood. Native American stories, in particular, illustrate a socially recognized sense of community between humans and the natural landscape.[16] The Māori
philosophy, and practice of kaitiakitanga, or eco-guardianship, and
preservation emphasizes a deep connect between humans, and their
environment.[17] Eastern Orthodox monks led a contemplative life deeply intertwined with nature.[18] Other lessons include how to live sustainably within an environment and
the self-sacrifices made to tolerate natural limits, such as population
control or a nomadic existence that allows the environment to
regenerate. Moreover, certain indigenous cultures have developed methods
of psychotherapy involving the presence of trees, rivers, and
astronomical bodies.[3]
Pain and delusions without nature
Ecopsychologists
have begun detecting unspoken grief within individuals, an escalation
of pain and despair, felt in response to widespread environmental
destruction. The field of ecopsychology intends to illustrate how
environmental disconnection functions as an aspect of existing pathologies,
without creating a new category. The contention is that if a culture is
disconnected from nature, then various aspects of an individual's life
will be negatively impacted.[3]
It also believes that without the influence of nature, humans are prone
to a variety of delusions, and that to some degree life in the wild
forms the basis for human sanity and optimal psychological development.
The topic is explored in detail Paul Shepard's book Nature and Madness.
It is also proposed that separation from outdoor contact causes a loss
of sensory and information-processing ability that was developed over
the course of human evolution, which was spent in direct reciprocity
with the environment.
The biophilia hypothesis also called BET suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".
Love of living systems
The term "biophilia" means "love of life or living systems." It was first used by Erich Fromm to describe a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital.[4]
Wilson uses the term in the same sense when he suggests that biophilia
describes "the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with
the rest of life." He proposed the possibility that the deep
affiliations humans have with other life forms and nature as a whole are
rooted in our biology. Unlike phobias, which are the aversions and fears that people have of things in their environment, philias
are the attractions and positive feelings that people have toward
organisms, species, habitats, processes and objects in their natural
surroundings.
Although named by Fromm, the concept of biophilia has been proposed and
defined many times over. Aristotle was one of many to put forward a
concept that could be summarized as "love of life". Diving into the term
philia, or friendship, Aristotle evokes the idea of reciprocity
and how friendships are beneficial to both parties in more than just one
way, but especially in the way of happiness.[5]
In the book Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations edited by Peter Kahn and Stephen Kellert,[6]
the importance of animals, especially those with which a child can
develop a nurturing relationship, is emphasized particularly for early
and middle childhood. Chapter 7 of the same book reports on the help
that animals can provide to children with autistic-spectrum disorders.[7]
Product of biological evolution
Human preferences toward things in nature,
while refined through experience and culture, are hypothetically the
product of biological evolution. For example, adult mammals (especially humans) are generally attracted to baby mammal faces and find them appealing
across species. The large eyes and small features of any young mammal
face are far more appealing than those of the mature adults. The
biophilia hypothesis suggests that the positive emotional response that
adult mammals have toward baby mammals across species helps increase the
survival rates of all mammals.
Similarly, the hypothesis helps explain why ordinary people care for and sometimes risk their lives to save domestic and wild animals, and keep plants and flowers in and around their homes. In other words, our natural love for life helps sustain life.
Very often, flowers also indicate potential for food later. Most
fruits start their development as flowers. For our ancestors, it was
crucial to spot, detect and remember the plants that would later provide
nutrition.
Biophilia and conservation
Because
of our technological advancements and more time spent inside buildings
and cars, it is argued that the lack of biophilic activities and time
spent in nature may be strengthening the disconnect of humans from
nature. Although, it also has shown strong urges among people to
reconnect with nature.
The concern for a lack of connection with the rest of nature outside of
us, is that a stronger disregard for other plants, animals and less
appealing wild areas could lead to further ecosystem degradation and
species loss. Therefore, reestablishing a connection with nature has
become more important in the field of conservation.[8][better source needed]
Examples would be more available green spaces in and around cities,
more classes that revolve around nature and implementing smart design
for greener cities that integrate ecosystems into them such as biophilic
cities. These cities can also become part of wildlife corridors to help
with migrational and territorial needs of other animals.[9]
Development
The hypothesis has since been developed as part of theories of evolutionary psychology in the book The Biophilia Hypothesis edited by Stephen R. Kellert and Edward O. Wilson[10] and by Lynn Margulis.
Also, Stephen Kellert's work seeks to determine common human responses
to perceptions of, and ideas about, plants and animals, and to explain
them in terms of the conditions of human evolution.
Biophilic design
In architecture, biophilic design is a sustainable design strategy that incorporates reconnecting people with the natural environment. It may be seen as a necessary complement to green architecture, which decreases the environmental impact of the built world but does not address human reconnection with the natural world.[11]
Caperna and Serafini[12]
define biophilic as that kind of architecture, which is able to supply
our inborn need of connection to life and to the vital processes.
According to Caperna and Serafini,[13] Biophilic architecture is characterized by the following elements: i) the naturalistic dimension; (ii) the Wholeness [14]
of the site, that is, "the basic structure of the place"; (iii) the
"geometric coherency", that is, the physical space must have such a
geometrical configuration able to exalt the connections human dimension
and built and natural environments.
Similarly, biophilic space has been defined as the environment that
strengthens life and supports the sociological and psychological
components,[15][16] or, in other words, it is able to:[17]
(i) unburden our cognitive system, supporting it in collecting and
recognizing more information in the quickest and most efficient way;
(ii) foster the optimum of our sensorial system in terms of
neuro-motorial influence, avoiding both the depressive and the exciting
effects; (iii) induce a strengthening in emotive and biological terms at
a neural level; (iv) support, according to the many clinical evidences,
the neuro-endocryne and immunological system, especially for those
people who are in bad physical condition.
Having a window looking out to plants is also claimed to help speed up the healing process of patients in hospitals.[18] Similarly, having plants in the same room as patients in hospitals also speeds up their healing process.[19]
Biophilia in fiction
Canadian author Hilary Scharper explicitly adapted E.O. Wilson's concept of biophilia for her ecogothic novel, Perdita.[20] In the novel, Perdita (meaning "the lost one") is a mythological figure who brings biophilia to humanity.
German
researchers created a 55-nm-by-55-nm DNA-based molecular platform with a
25-nm-long robotic arm that can be actuated with externally applied
electrical fields, under computer control. (credit: Enzo Kopperger et
al./Science)
By powering a self-assembling DNA nanorobotic arm with electric
fields, German scientists have achieved precise nanoscale movement that
is at least five orders of magnitude (hundreds of thousands times)
faster than previously reported DNA-driven robotic systems, they suggest
today (Jan. 19) in the journal Science.
DNA origami has emerged as a powerful tool to build precise structures. But now, “Kopperger et al.
make an impressive stride in this direction by creating a dynamic DNA
origami structure that they can directly control from the macroscale
with easily tunable electric fields—similar to a remote-controlled
robot,” notes Björn Högberg of Karolinska Institutet in a related
Perspective in Science, (p. 279).
The
nanorobotic arm resembles the gearshift lever of a car. Controlled by
an electric field (comparable to the car driver), short, single-stranded
DNA serves as “latches” (yellow) to momentarily grab and lock the
25-nanometer-long arm into predefined “gear” positions. (credit: Enzo
Kopperger et al./Science)
The new biohybrid nanorobotic systems could even act as a molecular mechanical memory (a sort of nanoscale version of the Babbage Analytical Engine),
he notes. “With the capability to form long filaments with multiple DNA
robot arms, the systems could also serve as a platform for new
inventions in digital memory, nanoscale cargo transfer, and 3D printing
of molecules.”
“The robot-arm system may be scaled up and integrated into larger
hybrid systems by a combination of lithographic and self-assembly
techniques,” according to the researchers. “Electrically clocked
synthesis of molecules with a large number of robot arms in parallel
could then be the first step toward the realization of a genuine
nanorobotic production factory.”
Taking a different approach to a nanofactory, this “Productive
Nanosystems: from Molecules to Superproducts” film — a collaborative
project of animator and engineer John Burch and pioneer nanotechnologist K. Eric Drexler
in 2005 — demonstrated key steps in a hypothetical process that
converts simple molecules into a billion-CPU laptop computer. More here.
Abstract of A self-assembled nanoscale robotic arm controlled by electric fields
The use of dynamic, self-assembled DNA nanostructures in the context
of nanorobotics requires fast and reliable actuation mechanisms. We
therefore created a 55-nanometer–by–55-nanometer DNA-based molecular
platform with an integrated robotic arm of length 25 nanometers, which
can be extended to more than 400 nanometers and actuated with externally
applied electrical fields. Precise, computer-controlled switching of
the arm between arbitrary positions on the platform can be achieved
within milliseconds, as demonstrated with single-pair Förster resonance
energy transfer experiments and fluorescence microscopy. The arm can be
used for electrically driven transport of molecules or nanoparticles
over tens of nanometers, which is useful for the control of photonic and
plasmonic processes. Application of piconewton forces by the robot arm
is demonstrated in force-induced DNA duplex melting experiments.
