Message-Laden Design Elements
Stereotypes' powerful effects
Stereotypes' powerful effects
When, what, how
Mygind and colleagues found that neighborhood form and some parenting practices are related. They state that “There were no observable associations between residential greenness [i.e., Normalized Difference in Vegetation Index] within a 1,600 m network radius and parenting practices, mother-infant bonding, or infant socioemotional function. The findings were largely corroborated by sensitivity analyses (i.e., NDVI within 100, 250, 500, and 1,000 m and distance to park). Shorter distances to a park were associated with less hostile parenting.
Recently completed research indicates consistent responses to music in multiple cultures. Putkinen, Zhou, Gan, Yang, Becker, Sams, and Nummenmas found that “emotional music evokes similar bodily sensations across cultures. . . . The emotions and bodily sensations evoked by music were similar across Western and Asian listeners. . . . The study was conducted in collaboration with Aalto University from Finland and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) as an online questionnaire survey.
Bhandari and teammates link ventilation and noise and the cognitive performance of university students. They report that “focusing on ceiling fan noise in classrooms, this study investigates the effect of acoustic environment . . . on acoustic comfort, productivity, and engagement. A four-month-long field study was conducted in 11 naturally ventilated classrooms, obtaining 828 responses. . . . BGN [background noise] levels and RT [reverberation time] ranged from 58.2 to 65.3 dBA and 0.7–2.1 s, respectively.
Ma and colleagues evaluated the repercussions of viewing indoor green walls. They found a link between looking at green walls of certain sizes and mental state: “Subjects’ cognitive performance was highly improved in the presence of a large green wall [green view index (GVI) = 15%]. Systolic blood pressure and heart rate were reduced . . . most significantly in the presence of a large green wall. Diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly . . .
Mintz and teammates evaluated how being with other people in a forest and what visitors choose to do in a forest influences experiences there. They determined via a survey distributed to people who had visited forests “that engaging exclusively in relaxing activities is associated with a lower level of positive affect [mood] than engaging in all three types of activities (relaxing, hiking and sport) or than engaging in a combination of hiking and sport.
Art can powerfully and positively enrich mental and physical wellbeing via its effects on cognitive performance, mood, etc. Neuroscience research reveals the investments in art likely to earn the largest long-term returns.
"Saying" the right things
Al-Kire and colleagues evaluated how people evaluate artworks. They report that “Participants were randomly assigned to view original art photos created by a professional photographer that adhered to aesthetic principles, modified photos (i.e., the original photos modified to violate aesthetic principles such as the rule of thirds), or a comparison condition (photos selected from the International Affective Picture System).