This paper presents an overview of the concept of behavior settings and the theory and research methodology associated with it. Studies of communities and institutions interms of behavior settings are reviewed as illustrations of the usefulness of the behavior setting concept in measuring aspects of the quality of life in communities.
THE NATURALLY OCCURRING ENVIRONMENT has entered most studies of environment-behavior relationships as a distal variable with general, pervasive attributes; this is true, for example, of most comparative studies of cultures, classrooms, and homes. It is obvious, however, that the environment is not an undifferentiated medium in which people are immersed; it clearly involves a variety of active processes which selectively spur, guide, and restrain behavior. Dr. Schoggen has studied the varied, dynamic processes within the behavior-stream environment, and his findings have led him to treat the social environment as motivated, i.e., as directed with respect to the child. The success of this approach has wide implications for both theory and practice.Phil Schoggen is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, he was awarded the Ph.D. degree by the University of Kansas.THIS STUDY FOCUSES upon the active efforts made by the child's social environment to penetrate his psychological world and to modify his behavior. Other studies have sought to elucidate the structure, dynamics, and content of the child's behavior stream as recorded in specimen records. Central to these efforts has been the directedness of the child's behavior with respect to the behavior objects, persons, and behavior settings of his environment. This study, on the contrary, is concerned with the structure, dynamics, and content of the child's social environment which occurs pari passu with his behavior. Central to this problem is the directedness with respect to the child of the behavior of the objects, persons, and settings which make up his social environment. The previous studies have provided some important methodological and conceptual guides for the present undertaking.
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