Children and the Environment, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1978 Human Behavior and Environment Series, Vol. 3

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, interdiscipli­ nary, and professionally related topics. Chapters in these earlier vol­ umes 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, geogra­ phers, 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 em­ pirical 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.

1 Children and the Natural Environment.- 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.- Affective Ties.- Plants.- Learning about the Natural Environment.- American Children and the Natural Environment.- Summary and Conclusion.- References.- 2 Children’s Home Environments: Social and Cognitive Effects.- Home as a Source of Stimulation.- Social Stimulation in Home Environments.- Physical Stimulation in Home Environments.- Social Organization of Home Environments.- Privacy Regulation in Children’s Home Environments.- Crowding in Children’s Home Environments.- Type of Housing as a Determinant of Social Interaction.- Directions for Future Research.- References.- 3 Childhood Outdoors: Toward a Social Ecology of the Landscape.- Sources.- Methods.- Comparative Significance of Indoors and Outdoors.- Outdoor Behavior-Environment Concepts.- Measures of Territorial Range.- Range Evolution.- Controlling Factors on Range Development.- Place.- Significant Place Elements.- Place Elements in the Habitual Range.- Environmentally Dependent and Independent Activity.- The Co-Action of Range, Place, and Pathway.- Conclusions and Future Directions.- Range Analysis.- Place Analysis.- Pathway Analysis.- References.- 4 School Environments.- The Objective or Milieu-with-Program Environment.- The Objective Individual Environment.- The Subjective Environment.- Environments in Early Childhood.- General Environments for Preschoolers.- Issues of Size and Density.- Intraschool Settings as Environments for Preschoolers.- Experimental and Applied Foci in Preschool Environments.- Environments in Elementary Schools.- Qualitative Pictures.- Children in Global School Environments.- Children and Intraschool Settings.- Open School Environments.- High School and University Environments.- The “Questionnaire Environments”.- Directions for Research.- References.- 5 Childhood and Privacy.- A Perspective for Understanding Privacy.- Background of this Approach to the Problem of Human Privacy.- Privacy as a Concept and a Social Issue: A Multidimensional Developmental Theory.- The Environmental Dimension of Privacy.- Privacy and the Life Cycle.- The Cultural Element.- Conclusions and Implications.- Privacy as an Experience of Separation.- Privacy Patterns and Autonomy.- Privacy and Positive Social Behavior.- Privacy and Self-Esteem.- Some Unanswered Questions.- References.- 6 Stalking the Elusive Cognitive Map: The Development of Children’s Representations of Geographic Space.- Cognitive Maps.- Methodological Issues.- Neurological Bases of Spatial Knowledge.- The Development of Cognitive Maps.- The Development of Landmark Knowledge.- The Development of Route Learning.- The Development of Configurational Knowledge.- Concluding Remarks.- Summary.- Research Implications.- The Bigger Picture.- References.- 7 Children as Environmental Planners.- 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.