ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 1989-1994

A review of research and theory on transactions between people and phy sical environments emphasizes new contributions to theory and empirica l research published in major journals of environmental psychology, 19 89-1994. Theories focused on arousal, load, stress, privacy-regulation , behavior settings, and transactional analysis; new theory increasing ly incorporated situational and contextual variables. Empirical resear ch emphasized field settings over the laboratory and employed increasi ngly diverse methods, populations, and cultures. Environmental design studies integrated scientific and applied goals through post-occupancy evaluation. New findings concerned features of residences, work place s, hospitals, schools, prisons, and larger community environments. New studies also addressed environmental stressors (e.g. temperature, noi se); effects of attitudes and behaviors on conservation, crime, pollut ion, and hazards; and issues for neighborhoods, public places, and nat ural environments. Directions for the future include integrated theory to guide research, more design experiments, and development of conven tions for case studies.