Change up! This issue, instead of noting a place that works, we’re going to discuss one whose effect on our wellbeing leaves much to be desired, environmental psychology-wise—the interior of pretty much any commercial passenger aircraft.
The biggest psychological issue with any aircraft interior is something that airlines would have great difficulty doing anything about—assuming that the regulations about when we have to stay seated, etc. are actually required for safety reasons—we don’t have much control over our experiences from the time that we arrive at our departure point until we exit from our destination airport.
Security and airline employees instruct us where to be and how to be; we need to obey security rules, however silly they may seem in the moment, and sit in our assigned seats, for instance. We do have some freedom, en route, but it is minimal. While we wait for our departures, we generally have access to a range of less than compelling retail options, for example. Also, when we’re in the air we can turn on and off our overhead light, wear an eye mask, put on earphones/ear plugs, and fiddle with the air-flow nozzle above our seat. In the most expensive of the premium classes, passengers can cluster around bars or actually recline their seats into somewhat comfortable beds. The rest of us spend flights confined to our seats, except for the occasional rest room jaunt, trying not to be seriously injured by the person sitting in front of us who insists on reclining their seat into our territory, that small wedge of space directly in front of our nose.
Not having as much control of our in-travel experiences as we do during our “grounded” ones makes us tense, very tense. And it’s not like we can leave the plane to escape our unpleasant situation, at least until we land and get our chance to de-plane.
Not being able to maintain our desired personal space distances from others further stresses us. We’ve all had that “row-mate” who falls asleep with their head on our shoulder, refusing to wake up enough to re-orient to just their own seat, for example.
We need to establish and be able to maintain a territory to stay mentally comfortable, wherever we are, and that clearly doesn’t happen on airplanes unless you purchase seats in the first class cabin or, by some twist of fate, end up with an entire row of coach class seats to yourself. In “regular life” we find all sorts of ways to stake out what’s ours, such as putting things we own close to our chair, that aren’t options when we’re flying.
In many planes, it’s not possible to put down your own tray table and situate your laptop in a temporary, even if cramped, workspace because of that reclined seat in front of you.
And it’s not just errant recliners and sleeping heads that violate our personal spaces and territories—so does the scent of that stinky stuff that the people across the aisle are eating.
Even without the personal space and territorial invasions and loss of control, there’re lots of other stressors while we’re aloft. There are a whole assortment of concerning sounds for example, ones that come and go without any apparent reason or resolution.
Airplane seat ergonomics also often are less than optimal.
When we’re tense/stressed some of our mental processing power is diverted from finding the best solutions to challenges at hand, which can further complicate situations.
In aircraft air is quite dry, and being dehydrated can reduce our cognitive performance, while it gives us a headache.
And we’re not really in our best minds to do anything about dealing with the conditions, and travelers, we encounter mid-air while we’re there because the air pressure inside the plane matches one that research has shown compromises our ability to cognitively process information.
A plus, however minor it might be, is that at least all of us are facing in the same direction in our airplane seats, and that prevents much eye contact. When we’re in a miserable situation, making eye contact causes us to feel even worse and leads to rapid fire spread of bad moods.
Also, some of our fellow travelers are smart enough to note our eye masks, etc., and also realize that they are silent signals we’re sending, ones that say “Don’t try to strike up a conversation with me.”
Many of our most interesting and positive life experiences are only possible because airplanes can whisk us off to locales that are out of convenient ground transportation range. Try to distract yourself with thoughts of pleasant time you spent on a distant beach the next time you find yourself in an aircraft.