Session 5  Readings Chapter 4 Environments are rich in stimuli and the environment contains too much information for us to comprehend at one time, therefore we selectively process the environment. Most of you may already be familiar with the basic psychological processes of perception from some of your previous classes. In this chapter perception is discusses with relation to the environment.  Perceptual processes were one of the earliest topics for 19th century psychologists and there has been decades of research from a variety of perspectives on perception. Some of these include the perception of depth, size, and distance.  Your chapter introduces you first to some basic concepts in elementary psychophysics including stimulus detection, recognition, discrimination and scaling. As the authors point out all environments carry a set of meanings which may be related to a variety of attributes including physical, social, cultural, aesthetic and economic factors. The cognitive bases of perception and the contextual and social bases of perception are briefly discussed. Some theories of environmental perception are considered in some detail in this chapter. The gestalt theory emphasizes a holistic, global approach to perception. The founders of gestalt psychology were a group of german psychologists who rejected the notion that perceptual processes could be understood by reducing them into small basic units. They believed that the brain is organized to construct and impose meaning from environmental stimuli. The functionalistic approach to perception is that our perceptions are guided by the necessity to "get along" with the environment. Several perspectives of the functionalistic theories are discussed. We interact with the environment continuously and with the passage of time our perception of them becomes more dependent on our cognitive processes. The processes involved in cognitive mapping has interested several researchers across several disciplines including cognitive psychology, geography, anthropology, environmental planning and design. This topic reflects the interdisciplinary nature of environmental psychology. Your chapter discussed the characteristics of cognitive maps and factors affecting cognitive mapping. Social psychologists have studied attitudes and attitude formation from almost the beginning of the development of social psychology as a formal discipline. The most widely accepted model of attitude structure is the three-component model: a cognitive, affective and behavioral component of attitudes. In this chapter this model is applied to understanding one's attitudes towards the environment including attitude formation and the relationship between attitudes and behavior.  Assignments Essay questions The authors of your text suggest that cognitive maps serve several important functions. What are they? Illustrate each of these by considering the cognitive map of your hometown or neighbourhood. Activities 1. Complete the time-out exercise on page 90 in your text. Briefly describe your findings in a page or less. This assignment is due by February 15th.