Specialist Research Laboratory

Environmental Psychology Laboratory

Summary of Research Activities

The discipline Environmental Psychology is dealing with the interrelationships between human experiences & behavior and the physical (natural & built) environment. The main research themes in this laboratory are: How do humans perceive and evaluate built and natural environments? How do they impact on the status of environments? How are environmental hazards dealt with? How can information and communication about environmental risks be improved? In addition, methodological issues are pursued.

Current Areas of Research

• Soundscapes in public places (partly with Ann Makin & Karmen Jobling)
• Improving disaster preparedness through risk communication
• The potential of the world-wide-web for enhancing bushfire preparedness
• Assessment of simulated and real environments (joint project with Professor Ian Bishop, Department of Geomatics)
• Virtual environments and human perception (in collaboration with Professor Ian Bishop & Professor Terry Daniel, University of Arizona/USA)
• Virtual environment presentations - perception and appraisal (in collaboration with Dr Lex Toet & Drs Joske Houtkamp, Utrecht University, Netherlands)
• Risk perception in 'western' and 'eastern' cultures
• Attitudes towards risk-taking: a cross-cultural study (Chinese part in collaboration with A/Professor Winton Au, University of Hong Kong)
• Verbal qualifiers for rating scales used in environmental studies

Research Staff:

• Associate Professor Bernd Rohrmann
• also, visiting professors: Professor Terry Daniel (Arizona/USA), Professor H. Jungermann (Berlin/Germany).

Research assistants:

• Nicole Besley, Karmen Jobling, Fu Norijan; temporarily: Maja Graham, Maria Vassos, Yu Zhao.
• also, visiting students from Europe: Imke Dirks, Sereina Oggier.

Lab Facilities:

The Laboratory is equipped with three computers; one has a large-format monitor for working with pictures or simulations of environment presentations.

As data sets, a large number of own photographs (mostly taken with a digital camera) and videos are available; plus computer-simulated views resulting from the long-term collaboration with Prof Bishop.

For sound measurements, a small portable sound level meter is on hand.

Funding & Grants:

For each of these projects, a description of the research plan and selected reports can be found at www.rohrmannresearch.net.

Current Research Students:

Margaret Blanch, Athena Iliades, Sonja Pedell.