Children and the Environment

Children and the Environment

Hum.an Behavior and Environm.ent ADVANCES IN THEORY AND RESEARCH Volume 3: Children and the Environment

Children and the Environment EDITED BY IRWIN ALTMAN University of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah AND JOACHIM F. WOHLWILL The Pennsylvania State University University Park, Pennsylvania PLENUM PRESS NEW YORK AND LONDON

Main entry under title: Children and the environment. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (Human behavior and environment; v. 3) Includes bibliographies and index. 1. Child psychology - Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Environmental psychology - Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Altman, Irwin. II. Wohlwill, Joachim F. BF353.H85 vol. 3 301.31s [155.4'181 78-13511 ISBN-13: 978-1-4684-3407-1 e-isbn-13: 978-1-4684-3405-7 DOT: 10.1007/978-1-4684-3405-7 1978 Plenum Press, New York Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1978 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher

Articles Planned for Volume 4 CULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT Editors: Irwin Altman, Joachim F. Wohlwill, and Amos Rapoport Personal Space, Crowding and Spatial Behavior in a Cultural Context JOHN R. AIELLO Human Ecology as Human Behavior: A Normative Anthropology of Resource Use and Abuse JOHN W. BENNETT Cultural Ecology and Individual Behavior JOHN W. BERRY Cross-Cultural Research Methods: Strategies, Problems, Applications RICHARD W. BRISLIN Territory in Urban Settings SIDNEY BROWER Cross-Cultural Aspects of Environmental Design AMOS RAPOPORT Cultural Change and Urban Form MILES RICHARDSON Culture, Ecology, and Development IGNACY SACHS Cross-Cultural Differences in Human Response to Natural Hazards GILBERT WHITE AND JOHN SORENSON v

Con tribu tors JOHN C. BAIRD. Department of Psychology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire PAUL v. GUMP. Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas ROBERT V. KAIL, JR.. Psychology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania KATHLEEN C. KIRASIC. Psychology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ROBIN MOORE ifornia The People Environment Group, San Francisco, Cal- JILL N. NAGY. Department of Psychology, Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois Ross D. PARKE. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois ALEXANDER W. SIEGEL. Psychology Department, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania YI-Fu TUAN. Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota MAXINE WOLFE. Environmental Psychology Program, City University of New York Graduate School, New York, New York DONALD YOUNG. Berkeley, California vii

Preface In the first two volumes of the series we elected to cover a broad spectrum of topics in the environment and behavior field, ranging from theoretical to applied, and including disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and professionally related topics. Chapters in these earlier volumes dealt with leisure and recreation, the elderly, personal space, aesthetics, energy, behavioral approaches to environmental problems, methodological issues, social indicators, industrial settings, and the like. Chapters were written by psychologists, sociologists, geographers, and other social scientists, and by authors from professional design fields such as urban planning, operations research, landscape architecture, and so on. Our goal in these first two volumes was to present a sampling of areas in the emerging environment and behavior field and to give readers some insight into the diversity of research and theoretical perspectives that characterize the field. Beginning with the present volume, our efforts will be directed at a series of thematic volumes. The present collection of chapters is focused on children and the environment, and, as much as possible, we invited contributions that reflect a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives on this topic. The next volume in the series, now in preparation, will address the area of "culture and the environment." Suggestions for possible future topics are welcome. Irwin Altman Joachim F. Wohlwill ix

Contents Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 CHILDREN AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT YI-FU TUAN Introduction Children: A Historical Note Natural Environment Man-Environment Relationships Cognition and Behavior Childhood and Nature. The Wild Child Inner-City Children and Nature Natural Environment and Learning Typewriter and Learning: A Contrast Expanding World. Animism, Artificialism, and Scale Play and Playthings Water, Sand, Clay, and Mud Climbing Trees. Sliding Nooks and Play Houses Children, Animals, and Plants Identity Livelihood and Hunting Mimicry 5 5 6 7 8 9 9 11 12 13 14 16 18 18 19 20 21 21 22 22 23 xi

xii Contents Mfective Ties Plants. Learning about the Natural Environment American Children and the Natural Environment Summary and Conclusion References. 24 24 25 26 29 30 CHAPTER 2 CHILDREN'S HOME ENVIRONMENTS: SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE EFFECTS ROSS D. PARKE Introduction 33 Home as a Source of Stimulation 35 Social Stimulation in Home Environments 35 Physical Stimulation in Home Environments 45 Social Organization of Home Environments. 65 Privacy Regulation in Children's Home Environments 65 Crowding in Children's Home Environments. 70 Type of Housing as a Determinant of Social Interaction 72 Directions for Future Research 73 References. 74 CHAPTER 3 CHILDHOOD OUTDOORS: TOWARD A SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF THE LANDSCAPE ROBIN MOORE DONALD YOUNG Introduction Sources Methods Comparative Significance of Indoors and Outdoors 83 85 86 88

Contents xiii Outdoor Behavior-Environment Concepts 90 Measures of Territorial Range. 91 Range Evolution. 92 Controlling Factors on Range Development 95 Place 106 Significant Place Elements. 106 Place Elements in the Habitual Range 111 Environmentally Dependent and Independent Activity 115 The Co-Action of Range, Place, and Pathway 119 Conclusions and Future Directions 122 Range Analysis. 124 Place Analysis 125 Pathway Analysis 127 References. 127 CHAPTER 4 SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS PAUL V. GUMP Introduction 131 The Objective or Milieu-with-Program Environment 134 The Objective Individual Environment 134 The Subjective Environment. 135 Environments in Early Childhood. 137 General Environments for Preschoolers 138 Issues of Size and Density. 140 Intraschool Settings as Environments for Preschoolers 142 Experimental and Applied Foci in Preschool Environments 148 Environments in Elementary Schools. 151 Qualitative Pictures. 151 Children in Global School Environments 152 Children and Intraschool Settings. 155 Open School Environments. 160 High School and University Environments 162 The "Questionnaire Environments" 164 Directions for Research 167 References. 169

xiv Contents CHAPTER 5 CHILDHOOD AND PRIVACY MAXINE WOLFE Introduction 175 A Perspective for Understanding Privacy 176 Background of this Approach to the Problem of Human Privacy. 176 Privacy as a Concept and a Social Issue: A Multidimensional Developmental Theory. 177 The Environmental Dimension of Privacy 180 Privacy and the Life Cycle 181 The Cultural Element. 202 Conclusions and Implications 213 Privacy as an Experience of Separation 214 Privacy Patterns and Autonomy. 214 Privacy and Positive Social Behavior 217 Privacy and Self-Esteem. 218 Some Unanswered Questions 218 References. 220 CHAPTER 6 STALKING THE ELUSIVE COGNITIVE MAP: THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN'S REPRESENTATIONS OF GEOGRAPHIC SPACE ALEXANDER W. SIEGEL KATHLEEN C. KIRASIC ROBERT V. KAIL, JR. Introduction Cognitive Maps Methodological Issues Neurological Bases of Spatial Knowledge The Development of Cognitive Maps. 223 224 227 229 233

Contents The Development of Landmark Knowledge. The Development of Route Learning. The Development of Configurational Knowledge Concluding Remarks. Summary. Research Implications The Bigger Picture References. xv 233 241 245 249 249 251 252 253 CHAPTER 7 CHILDREN AS ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNERS JILL N. NAGY JOHN C. BAIRD Introduction Methodological Considerations Developmental Studies The Town Study. Task Variables Process Variables Spatial Planning Model General Considerations Task Characteristics Meaning Structure Rules Decision Stage Performance. Preference General Conclusions References INDEX 259 262 265 265 269 274 284 284 285 287 288 289 289 290 290 292 295