Rootedness, time perspective and participation in Environmental Psychology

• Grant number: 18/00728-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: April 01, 2018
• End date: March 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Martineli Massola
• Grantee: Gustavo Martineli Massola
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Rootedness, in Environmental Psychology (EP), is a polysemic term that, in general, refers to a search, through active and autonomous participation, for an environment that allows identity support and a balanced time perspective, both individually and collectively. Studies that tried to relate feelings about environment and participation, however, did not obtain consistent results. But EP may be treating the term "participation" too strictly, relating it to values extrinsic to the groups surveyed. To examine this hypothesis, the present study intends to investigate, with at least 400 participants, length of residence, cultural capital, residence quality, place attachment and identity, community ties, time perspective and forms of participation varying: type of dwelling; size of the city; socioeconomic level; and rural or urban environment. Scales and a semi-open questionnaire on participation will be applied. 40 participants with varying levels of place attachment-identity and participation will be interviewed about their feelings towards the place of dwelling and their forms of participation. The scales will be analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics and the questionnaires and interviews, through content analysis techniques. The results of the scales, questionnaires and interviews will be compared among themselves and with the results of similar research carried out in Spain. The aim of this work is to collaborate with the definition of rootedness in EP as well as with studies that try to relate participation and place related affections. (AU)