Encouraging Better-for-All Behavior
Guiding people toward goodness
Guiding people toward goodness
Joye and teammates probed how spending time in nature influences interpersonal behavior and their findings support planning that enables in-nature experiences. They found that “State-level recreational nature engagement is a positive predictor of prosociality and – to a lesser degree – a negative predictor of antisociality.” The team determined that “the extent to which a population recreates in or enjoys the outdoors––explains regional differences in prosocial patterns of other-regard and kindness.
Keating and team studied the effects of virtual work on what are known as “negative work behavior” (NWB). They report that “Negative work behavior (NWB) occurs with concerning frequency in virtual work environments. Despite their prevalence and a substantial, multidisciplinary research literature on virtual negative behaviors in general, we lack clear answers regarding if, how, and why conditions differentiating virtual (i.e., computer-mediated) from face-to-face (F2F) work impact perpetrators’, victims’, and bystanders’ involvement in NWB. . . .
Carbon probed people’s experience of art.
Stamkou and colleagues investigate the effects of being awed on children.
Focus on outdoor spaces
Migliore, Rossi-Lamastra, and Tagliaro studied, via a literature review, gender issues in workplaces.
Van Doesumand colleagues studied how signage and trash can location influence at-park littering.
Neuroscientists have carefully investigated how design can encourage us to be on our best behavior and act in ways our societies value. Applying their research makes it more likely we’ll live law-abiding lives, wash our hands, and smile instead of shout at each other.
When people act in ways that their societies consider ethical, all can benefit. Environmental neuroscientists have developed a rich understanding of how design can encourage space and object users to be on their best behavior— and their insights can be applied in practice.