Book contents
- Political Plasticity
- The Progressive Psychology Book Series
- Political Plasticity
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 Political Plasticity, the Key to Understanding the Future of Democracy and Dictatorship
- Chapter 2 Hardwiring inside and outside People
- Part I Political Plasticity and Behavioral Continuity
- Chapter 3 Why Do Leaders Still Exist? Leadership and Followership
- Chapter 4 Rich and Poor – Still Just as Different
- Chapter 5 Ethnicity Is Forever
- Chapter 6 Religion, Eternally Present but with a Thousand Faces
- Chapter 7 The Built Environment and Behavioral Continuity
- Part II Change Agents, in Theory and Practice
- Part III Looking Ahead
- Notes
- References
- Index
Chapter 7 - The Built Environment and Behavioral Continuity
from Part I - Political Plasticity and Behavioral Continuity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2023
- Political Plasticity
- The Progressive Psychology Book Series
- Political Plasticity
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 Political Plasticity, the Key to Understanding the Future of Democracy and Dictatorship
- Chapter 2 Hardwiring inside and outside People
- Part I Political Plasticity and Behavioral Continuity
- Chapter 3 Why Do Leaders Still Exist? Leadership and Followership
- Chapter 4 Rich and Poor – Still Just as Different
- Chapter 5 Ethnicity Is Forever
- Chapter 6 Religion, Eternally Present but with a Thousand Faces
- Chapter 7 The Built Environment and Behavioral Continuity
- Part II Change Agents, in Theory and Practice
- Part III Looking Ahead
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
The built environment represents a continuity that also supports continuity in human behavior. The major schools of psychology are in agreement about the important role played by the built environment in shaping behavior, although some schools (e.g., behaviorism) give more importance to environmental shaping of behavior than do others. Some aspects of the built environment, such as heritage buildings, last over centuries and even thousands of years. As discussed in this chapter, heritage buildings often become integral to the collective memory and collective identity of a group; for example, the Tower of London is part of the national identity of Britain. Because of the important role played by the built environment in sustaining behavioral continuity, revolutionaries often attempt to radically change the built environment after they have achieved regime change and come to power as rulers. Renaming streets, buildings, and other places and making other such surface-level changes are easily done, but more substantial changes in the design of the built environment take much longer and are far more difficult to achieve. For this reason, the influence of the built environment on behavior tends to continue unchanged even after revolutions.
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- Political PlasticityThe Future of Democracy and Dictatorship, pp. 72 - 84Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023