ABSTRACT

The environment determines the way in which people interpret social life. In fact, depending on the context, multiple potential attitudes can be evoked by an attitude object. The purpose of this research is to test whether the perception of uncivil behavior and its perpetrators is affected by the physical environment in which this behavior is framed. Specifically, we explore the role of two environmental dimensions – naturalness and openness – in the way we evaluate behaviors that transgress social norms and their agents. In a pilot study, participants (N = 124) considered counter-normative behaviors to be more uncivil and their perpetrators to be less human in natural contexts. In the main study, participants (N = 199) evaluated the naturalness and openness dimensions separately and it was found that naturalness is the one that most influences the negative perception of uncivil behavior and the only one that has an effect on the dehumanization process. The results of this research support the idea that the physical environment plays an important role in the perception of uncivil behavior and the dehumanized view of its agent. The importance of the results within the fields of deviant behavior, social psychology, and environmental psychology are discussed.

摘要

环境决定了人们解读社会生活的方式。事实上，根据上下文，一个态度对象可以唤起多种潜在的态度。这项研究的目的是测试对不文明行为及其肇事者的感知是否受到这种行为所受的物理环境的影响。具体来说，我们探讨了两个环境维度——自然性和开放性——在我们评估违反社会规范的行为及其代理人的方式中的作用。在一项试点研究中，参与者 (N = 124) 认为反规范行为在自然环境中更加不文明，而其肇事者则不那么人性化。在主要研究中，参与者（N = 199）分别评估了自然性和开放性维度，发现自然性是对不文明行为的负面感知影响最大的维度，也是唯一对非人性化过程产生影响的维度。这项研究的结果支持这样一种观点，即物理环境在感知不文明行为和对其代理人的非人性化观点中起着重要作用。讨论了这些结果在异常行为、社会心理学和环境心理学领域的重要性。