Environmental psychology suggests that the physical environment affects our emotional, cognitive, and physiological states and even our social behaviour.
Sometimes we find ourselves thinking about one thing and then jumping to another.
But do you know that our surroundings have a great impact on our thoughts? Recent research showed that it is true.
This may not be obvious to us our environment plays a key role in doing that.
The research was led by Kate Schertz. The participants who lived in Chicago were taken to two different environments.
One participant was taken to “Water Tower Place mall” while the other was taken to “a beautiful indoor garden space.”
As they walked through the locations, both subjects responded to questions after every 20 minutes.
Research revealed that the participant who was taken to a beautiful indoor garden space had a more positive and exciting impact on his thoughts yet his thoughts were more focused on past events.
While the participant was taken to the mall, his thoughts were more future-oriented.
Schertz said that since malls are designed to encourage us to buy things therefore we feel more impulsive there.
Malls are actually built to encourage our buying and general impulsivity.