The Environment Impressions Model

Across six studies (N = 7,290), the present research identifies and validates four factors underlying the impressions people form of the environments they live in and navigate every day: density, desirability, light, and temperature. United States participants qualitatively described environments (Study 1), and both United States and United Kingdom participants rated environments on those characteristics (Studies 2-4). Exploratory factor analyses identified the factors underlying environment impressions. Subsequent validation revealed that these factors are associated with different behavioral intentions (Study 5), and that systematically manipulating the appearance of environments caused impressions on the relevant factor to change (Study 6). Overall, the present work proposes the Environment Impressions Model, which serves as the foundation for our expanding understanding of how impressions of the environment might influence an individual’s attitudes and behaviors.