BEHAVIORAL GEOGRAPHY

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Behavioral Geography | Data Features , Uses and Example
Christine Jenefer Thompson & Serva

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of behavioral geography? 3. Place Attachment:

If a person is asked to provide a relative distance This research examines the emotional and
from their location to another, factors such as prior travel psychological bonds that individuals form with specific
experiences, assumptions, and beliefs held about the places, and how these attachments influence behavior.
location in question, and the way the person
conceptualizes the location in their mind will influence 4. Wayfinding and Navigation:
their answer. This is an example of behavioral geography.
This area of study looks at how people navigate
What is the difference between behavioral and orient themselves in space, including the use of
geography and humanistic geography? landmarks, cognitive maps, and spatial reasoning.

Behavioral geography studies human decision- 5. Urban Design and Planning:

making and behavior as being influenced by prior
experiences, beliefs, and assumptions related to the Behavioral geography research also informs
spaces, places, and locations where people act. urban design and planning by studying how people
Humanistic geography examines people's relationships interact with and respond to the built environment.
with various places and spaces. Behavioral geography
takes this research a step further to consider how those Behavioral Geography Criticisms
relationships with spaces and places influence decision-
making and behavior. Most approaches to studying human behavior
come with criticisms. There are many schools of thought
What is Behavioral Geography? related to why people think and act the way they do, and
researchers don't always agree on which approach is
Behavioral geography is the study of how people best. Below are a few criticisms of behavioral geography:
behave in spaces and places. Specifically, behavioral
geography focuses on how people's experiences, ideas, 1. Reductionism:
and perceptions influence how people make decisions
and behave in certain places and environments. When Critics argue that behavioral geography can
examining human behavior from the behavioral sometimes oversimplify complex human behavior by
geography approach, perception and cognition are reducing it to observable actions and environmental
essential elements. How a person interprets an stimuli, neglecting the role of internal cognitive
environment and the decisions they make based on those processes.
perceptions are at the core of behavioral geography.
2. Determinism:
Behavioral Geography Data Features
Some critics suggest that behavioral geography
While any area of study requires some form of
can be deterministic, assuming that human behavior is
organized research, the type of research methods used
solely influenced by environmental factors and neglecting
and the data collected may look different from one
the role of individual agency and free will.
discipline to the next. Some areas of study gain more
from certain research approaches than others. There are
3. Ethnocentrism:
three key features of data in behavioral geography
research:
There are concerns that behavioral geography
•Research focuses primarily on disaggregated data. ...
may prioritize the perspectives and experiences of
•Research in behavioral geography aims to explain
certain groups or cultures, potentially overlooking the
how people make decisions. ...
diversity of human behaviors and responses to the
•Research in behavioral geography is naturally
environment.
interdisciplinary.
4. Lack of Interdisciplinary Collaboration:
Behavioral Geography Uses
Critics argue that behavioral geography can
Research sheds light on areas of study that may
sometimes be siloed within its own discipline, missing
otherwise seem abstract. Data gained from quality
opportunities for collaboration with other fields such as
research is valuable when used to understand certain
psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
social issues. There are a few popular uses for research in
behavioral geography, which are listed below:
5. Methodological Challenges:
1. Spatial Behavior:
Some critics point out methodological challenges
in studying human behavior in diverse environmental
This area of research focuses on how individuals
contexts, such as the difficulty of measuring subjective
and groups interact with their environment, including how
experiences and emotions accurately.
they move through and use space.
Behavioral Geography Examples
2. Environmental Perception and Cognition:
Certain disciplines aimed at explaining human
Research in this area explores how people
behavior can be difficult to understand without applying
perceive and understand their surroundings, including
the features of the approach to real-world examples.
their emotional responses to different environments.
When the ideas are related to familiar situations or
experiences, one can gain a better grasp of the tenets of relationship to their spatial environment. We'll focus on
a discipline. Here are two examples of how behavioral the question of how a person perceives distance and
geography can be used: discuss the contributions of this school of thought.

1. Spatial Behavior in Urban Settings: The Importance of the Individual

Behavioral geography can be applied to study To better understand the roots of behavioral
how individuals navigate and interact with urban geography, let's look at some concepts that came before
environments. For example, researchers may examine it. Geography considers how things and people move
how people choose their commuting routes in a city, through space, which can often be tracked and shown
considering factors such as traffic patterns, accessibility through data. For instance, we can determine how many
to public transportation, and personal preferences. By people take a particular highway or use a certain subway
analyzing spatial behavior in urban settings, urban line or flight path based on records about these
planners can design more efficient transportation behaviors. Geographers have historically spent a good
systems and infrastructure to enhance the overall urban deal of time on this type of aggregated data, the kind of
experience. data that shows many people's behaviors put together to
reveal trends.
2. Place Attachment in Community Development:

Place attachment, a concept in behavioral Aggregated Data

geography, can be utilized in community development
projects. For instance, researchers may investigate how
residents' emotional bonds to their neighborhoods
influence community engagement and well-being. By Once you look at this level of human behavior,
understanding the dynamics of place attachment, you start to notice patterns people have. For instance,
community developers can implement strategies to one of these patterns is the gravity model, which at a
strengthen community ties, preserve local identities, and basic level, states that movement declines with
foster a sense of belonging among residents. increasing distance. In other words, the farther away
something is from your home, the less likely you are to
travel there. In this model, a person who lives in Dalia's
Lesson Summary area is less likely to travel to the hurricane site than
someone who lives closer to it.
Behavioral geography is the study of how people Yet over time, some geographers also noticed that the
make decisions on how they behave in certain places, concept of distance is relative to the individual person.
spaces, and locations. Behavioral geographers draw on a What's close to you may seem far to your neighbor.
person's past experiences and previously held beliefs, Although distance can be measured in feet or meters, the
looking at how those experiences and beliefs influence way a person understands distance in their own mind will
decision-making. The focus of behavioral geography is on be different than the person next to them.
disaggregated data, meaning that the information and
findings are analyzed at the individual level as opposed to For example, to some people, a city like Paris is
the group, or aggregated, level. For example, according a world away, somewhere they may never travel, while
to behavioral geography, a person would estimate the for others Paris is a familiar place and a place they've
distance to New York City based on factors such as prior been many times before, a place they can afford to travel
travel experience and ideas, beliefs, and assumptions - so a lot closer in their minds. This matters a great deal
held about that particular location. when determining how likely a person is to travel there.
This perspective that the individual's own mind matters in
Behavioral geography is interdisciplinary, how they make decisions and move through the world is
drawing upon many other areas of study, including a very important aspect of behavioral geography.
anthropology, cognitive psychology, and economics. Behavioral geographers are interested in disaggregated
Critics have argued that behavioral geography lacks a data, data that focuses on the individual. A behavioral
clear theoretical framework due to the individual and not geographer would be interested in how a particular
enough on the general trends of the wider the large person chooses whether to go to Paris or not, along with
number of other disciplines involved in the approach. many other questions about movement of human beings.
Another criticism of behavioral geography is that the
approach focuses too much on population. Realistic Assumptions

To Travel or Not Why would it be useful for a behavioral

geographer to understand the perspective of an
Imagine there's been a major hurricane and a individual, such as Dalia, who's deciding whether to travel
whole region has been affected by the damage. A woman to the hurricane site?
named Dalia watches the news coverage from her home
many states away and learns that there's a group of One of the major contributions that behavioral
people in her area headed to a town that's requested geography can make by looking at the individual is in
help from volunteers. She debates whether she's willing gaining a more realistic view of how human beings make
to travel the distance to the area, trying to decide decisions. Let's say, for instance, that researchers
whether it's too far to go or not. assume that the further away a person is from the site of
a natural disaster, the less likely they are to volunteer to
As Dalia considers the distance, she also reflects travel there to help with relief efforts, based on the
on how her grandparents used to live in the area where gravity model. What about Dalia's family background in
the damage is worst and how she remembers visiting that region or her passion for volunteering? These factors
there as a child. She can see the streets where she used would also influence whether she views the site of the
to play and they're underwater. These memories will disaster as close or far away, worthy of her energy to
factor into whether she decides to travel the distance to travel there, or not.
the area.
This lesson looks at the field of behavioral geography, the [Link]
study of how individual human beings make decisions in