The document discusses three theories of how the environment influences human behavior: environmental determinism from the late 19th century which held that the environment fully controls human behavior; environmental possibilism from the 1920s which viewed the environment as providing opportunities for human choice and action; and environmental probabilism from the late 20th century which saw the environment as influencing but not determining individual decisions. It also examines factors like physiology, culture, social relationships, and personality that mediate the relationship between humans and their environment.

1. BUILT ENVIRONMENT &
SPATIAL CULTURE
Lecture 02,

2. Influence of Environment on Behavior
•Environmental Determinism
•Environmental Possibilism
•Enviornmental Probabilism
Environmental Determinism
•Time Period: Late 19th
century
•Theory of evolution- survival of the fittest, process of natural selection
•Environment (climate, soil, terrain, vegetation) controls human behavior
•Birth of civilizations
Environmental Possibilism / Cultural Determinism
•Time Period: 1920s
•Environment as the medium by which man is presented with opportunities.
Man’s choice and effort in realizing these opportunities. So behavior is hardly
determined by the environment.
•Environment as the context of behavior which sets limits to the accomplishment
of any attempted endeavor.
•Technology, capital and efficient organizational skills widens these limits and
expands range.
BEHAVIOR is an individual’s response to the
environment or to a self-generated
stimulus(action or response), mediated by
the following:
•Physiological subsystem (related to
body and its systems) physiological
response to a scary movie includes your
heart beating faster and your hands
getting sweaty.
•Cultural subsystem(interaction of
different elements of culture)
•Social subsystem(series of
interrelationships existing between
individuals, groups, and institutions and
forming a whole.
•Personality subsystem(the interaction
between person and situation.
Environmental Probabilism / Cultural Ecology
•Time Period: Late 20th
century
•Man is fairly knowledgeable, usually rational and predominantly acquisitive.
•Individual’s decision cannot be predicted but his range of possible decisions and the
probability of making one can be ascertained.

3. Individual’s
own Body as
the
Environment
People, animals,
plants and the
built environment
Environment of
“Gestalts”( form and
shape) Gestalt, a
German word for form
or shape, may refer to:
Holism, the idea that
natural systems and
their properties should
be viewed as wholes,
not as collections of
parts
COVERT
(hidden or
private)
OVERT
(visible, open ,
public)

4. Stimulus receptors and impulse conductors: Receptors are groups of
specialised cells. They can detect changes in the environment, which are called
stimuli, and turn them into electrical impulses. Receptors are often located in the
sense organs, such as the ear, eye and skin. Each organ has receptors sensitive
to particular kinds of stimulus.
Motor Effectors
An effector is any part of the body that produces the response. Here are some
examples of effectors:
•a muscle contracting to move the arm
•a muscle squeezing saliva from the salivary gland
•a gland releasing a hormone into the blood

5. Behavioral Framework
•Stimuli
•Perception & Percept
•Apperception
•Cognition
•Motor response
Physical
Perceptual
Environment
See, smell,
hear, taste,
touch
Process of
interpreting the
percept in terms
of previous
experience.
Once the percept
is matched and
understood, it
becomes
“cognition”.
Cognition may not
be derived from
perception
always, but may
be self-generated
or imagined.
Action
Something that causes a
response in a body part or
organism. A stimulus may be
internal or external. Sense
organs, such as the ear, and
sensory receptors, such as
those in the skin, are sensitive
to external stimuli such as
sound and touch
the ability to see,
hear, or become
aware of
something through
the senses.

6. HIGH RISE VS LOW RISE
This tempts one to conclude that high rises are unnatural, and some would
argue that what is unnatural must be, in some way, harmful.
High rises have been accused of causing many unpleasant outcomes. Among
those examined in this paper are fear, dissatisfaction, stress, behavior
problems, suicide, poor social relations, reduced helpfulness, and hindered
child development.
They may be trapped inside during a fire; it usually takes longer to reach the
street from a high-rise dwelling than from dwellings of a few storeys.
Residents in places with active tectonic plates worry about the entire building
falling because of an earthquake.
In the post-McVey, post-911 era, residents cannot help harbouring at least a
slight fear that their building might be attacked.
Tall thin buildings have smaller footprints than the equivalent number of low-
rise housing units, and therefore may occupy less land area and leaves more
room for parks and green space.
Those who live in their upper reaches experience less noise from outside the
building, and may breathe cleaner air.
Controlled entrances reduce crime and the fear of crime as compared to the
single-family resident, high-rise residents are free of yard and maintenance
work, although part of the rent must go to pay others to do that work.

7. HIGH RISE VS LOW RISE
This tempts one to conclude that high rises are unnatural, and some would
argue that what is unnatural must be, in some way, harmful.
High rises have been accused of causing many unpleasant outcomes. Among
those examined in this paper are fear, dissatisfaction, stress, behavior
problems, suicide, poor social relations, reduced helpfulness, and hindered
child development.
They may be trapped inside during a fire; it usually takes longer to reach the
street from a high-rise dwelling than from dwellings of a few storeys.
Residents in places with active tectonic plates worry about the entire building
falling because of an earthquake.
In the post-McVey, post-911 era, residents cannot help harbouring at least a
slight fear that their building might be attacked.
Tall thin buildings have smaller footprints than the equivalent number of low-
rise housing units, and therefore may occupy less land area and leaves more
room for parks and green space.
Those who live in their upper reaches experience less noise from outside the
building, and may breathe cleaner air.
Controlled entrances reduce crime and the fear of crime as compared to the
single-family resident, high-rise residents are free of yard and maintenance
work, although part of the rent must go to pay others to do that work.