
Hi!
When you demand logic, you pay a hidden price: you destroy magic" ― Rory Sutherland, Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense.
Have you ever wondered what role the physical space we live in has on our behaviour? Sometime in the early '90s, a newly minted Assistant Professor in psychology wondered if the physical area we live in plays a part in coping with the demands of urban life?
The area she chose to do this study was the Robert Taylor Homes. A suburban housing complex constructed in 1963 became a microcosm for racism and violence in American cities brought about due to segregation and poverty.
The allocation of houses in Robert Taylor homes was random. This was an ideal setting to understand the influence of green spaces on decision-making. Ming and her team coded the 18 buildings and took photographs to do this. Then they went door to door to recruit participants for the study, female heads of households. The interviews lasted 45 minutes and were used to assess how well they managed the essential issues of their lives. They gave them a simple number manipulation test to understand their ability to focus. Ming and her team found that people whose windows looked out to green spaces were significantly better at focusing their attention than those whose windows looked out to barren cityscapes. They were more decisive and optimistic in their outlook on life.
Here is Professor Ming summarising her decade long research:
"Humans living in landscapes that lack trees or other natural features undergo patterns of social, psychological and physical breakdown that are strikingly similar to those observed in other animals that have been deprived of their natural habitat, Kuo said."In animals, what you see is increases in aggression, you see disrupted parenting patterns, their social hierarchies are disrupted."
The green hypothesis is not a fluke observation; studies in different countries affirm this. A Danish study of 940,000 citizens tracked from 1985 to 2003 found that green spaces correlated with better life outcomes and significantly reduced the chances of developing an array of psychiatric disorders. So having green areas in a city can significantly reduce health expenditure and increase the quality of life.
So what can explain the impact of green on our behaviour? Evolutionary psychologists think that nature and activities that generate awe help us in "shrinking the self", and this shrinking of self automatically reduces our problems and positions with it. They postulate that even brief interaction with nature through greens creates a sense of awe. Awe is a self-transcendent emotion that decreases neural activity related to self-immersion and thinks beyond our immediate needs and wants. In fact, research has found that awe-prone people come across as humbler and have a realistic view of their strengths and weaknesses. New research has highlighted that this group of awe prone people report significantly higher group cohesion and have better life outcomes.
Our physical surroundings shape our innate behaviour. Even a little interaction with the outdoors makes us resilient. So next time you feel a little caught up with stuff and need it straightened out, take a walk in the park. It just might be what you need.
Behavioural Flashcards
The amazing folks at Centre for Advanced Hindsight have designed flashcards with over 50 behavioural heuristics. There are absolutely free to download and are pretty useful though they are slightly old. If you are curious about BS check them out by clicking the links below.
Flashcard set 2: Download this set to test yourself and continue to improve your mastery.
