The role of schemas in understanding places

Walking into an unfamiliar building, we quickly know, for example, not only that it is a restaurant, but also what kind of a restaurant it is, what kind of people we are likely to find there and how they are likely to and ‘supposed’ to act (1). We are able to differentiate between customers and employees, have an idea about the location of the restrooms, the kind of food served and even the cost of eating there without talking to anyone and in seconds! Often we can answer many of these questions even before entering the building (Cherulnik, 1991). Although we practice this “guessing game” all the time, because it comes to us so naturally, we do not even notice what we are achieving. We are able to achieve this by virtue of our mental representations called schemas.

[1]  Roger C. Schank,et al.  SCRIPTS, PLANS, GOALS, AND UNDERSTANDING , 1988 .

[2]  L. M. Ward,et al.  The behavioral component in the meaning of places , 1983 .

[3]  E. Imamoğlu,et al.  Relationship between Familiarity, Attitudes and Preferences: Assisted Living Facilities as Compared to Nursing Homes , 2006 .

[4]  Terence Lee.  Urban Neighbourhood as a Socio-Spatial Schema , 1968 .

[5]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Social cognition, 2nd ed. , 1991 .

[6]  W. Brewer,et al.  Role of schemata in memory for places , 1981, Cognitive Psychology.

[7]  N. Stokols,et al.  People in places: a transactional view of settings , 1981 .

[8]  T. Purcell.  Experiencing American and Australian High-and Popular-Style Houses , 1995 .

[9]  D. Canter.  The psychology of place , 1977 .

[10]  A. Rapoport.  Theory in Environment Behavior Studies , 1997 .

[11]  Kevin Lynch,et al.  The Image of the City , 1960 .

[12]  M. Powell Lawton,et al.  Environment and aging , 1980 .

[13]  I. Walker,et al.  Social Cognition: An Integrated Introduction , 1996 .

[14]  Lawrence M. Ward,et al.  The psychological representation of molar physical environments , 1981 .

[15]  A. Purcell,et al.  Landscape Perception, Preference, and Schema Discrepancy , 1987 .

[16]  Lawrence M. Ward,et al.  The role of plans in cognitive and affective responses to places , 1988 .

[17]  C. Holahan.  Cognition and Environment: Functioning in an Uncertain World. , 1984 .

[18]  Rikard Küller.  Familiar design helps dementia patients cope , 1991 .

[19]  Paul D. Cherulnik,et al.  Reading Restaurant Facades , 1991 .

[20]  E. Hall,et al.  The Hidden Dimension , 1970 .

[21]  Lawrence M. Ward,et al.  Planning, mood, and place-liking , 1988 .

[22]  K. Day,et al.  The therapeutic design of environments for people with dementia: a review of the empirical research. , 2000, The Gerontologist.

[23]  E. Relph.  Place and placelessness , 1976 .

[24]  Mario von Cranach,et al.  Discovery Strategies in the Psychology of Action , 1985 .

[25]  T. Thompson,et al.  Architectural features and perceptions of community residences for people with mental retardation. , 1996, American journal of mental retardation : AJMR.

[26]  Benyamin Schwarz,et al.  Aging, autonomy, and architecture : advances in assisted living , 1999 .

[27]  David V. Canter,et al.  The Facets of Place , 1997 .

[28]  Çağrı Imamoğlu.  Assisted Living as a New Place Schema , 2007 .

[29]  L. Groat,et al.  Meaning in post-modern architecture: An examination using the multiple sorting task , 1982 .

[30]  R. Kaplan,et al.  The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective , 1989 .

[31]  Victor Regnier,et al.  Assisted Living Housing for the Elderly: Design Innovations from the United States and Europe , 1993 .

[32]  T. Thompson,et al.  Towards an Architectural Definition of Normalization: Design Principles for Housing Severely and Profoundly Retarded Adults. , 1984 .

[33]  R. Zajonc.  Attitudinal effects of mere exposure. , 1968 .

[34]  T. Thompson,et al.  Interdependence of architectural features and program variables in community residences for people with mental retardation. , 1996, American journal of mental retardation : AJMR.

[35]  Jack L. Nasar,et al.  Symbolic Meanings of House Styles , 1989 .

[36]  Marvin Minsky,et al.  A framework for representing knowledge , 1974 .

[37]  G. Mandler.  Mind and Body: Psychology of Emotion and Stress , 1984 .

[38]  Çağrı Imamoğlu,et al.  Complexity, liking and familiarity : Architecture and non-architecture Turkish students' assessments of traditional and modern house facades , 2000 .

[39]  P. D. Cherulnik,et al.  Symbols of Status in Urban Neighborhoods , 1986 .

[40]  Bill Hillier,et al.  The social logic of space: Buildings and their genotypes , 1984 .

[41]  J. Nasar,et al.  The beauty and the beast: Some preliminary comparisons of ‘high’ versus ‘popular’ residential architecture and public versus architect judgments of same , 1989 .

[42]  H. Staats,et al.  Models of Preference for Outdoor Scenes , 1998 .

[43]  P. D. Cherulnik,et al.  The social contents of place schemata: People are judged by the places where they live and work , 1984 .

[44]  Amos Rapoport,et al.  The meaning of the built environment , 1982 .

[45]  Martin Krampen,et al.  Meaning in the urban environment , 1979 .

[46]  William J. Brummett.  The Essence of Home: Design Solutions for Assisted Living Housing , 1996 .

[47]  M. S. Mayzner,et al.  Cognition And Reality , 1976 .

[48]  K. Moore,et al.  Vision and Values , 2003 .

[49]  P. D. Cherulnik,et al.  Person Perception in Environmental Context: The Influence of Residential Settings on Impressions of Their Occupants , 1986 .