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Confined Environment Psychology


Confined environment psychology is a refined subcategory of environmental psychology. There can be severe neurological impacts upon remaining in a confined environment over a prolonged period of time. Confined environment psychology can come in different forms, including; by location and lack of or limited human interaction. The broad subcategory also includes the effects of social isolation on animals.

Behavioural and Neurological impacts of confined environments

Solitary confinement and isolation can have severe psychological effects and is heavily dependent on the extent of isolation, particularly for prisoners. A study conducted by Stuart Grassian stated some of the behavioural effects of solitary confinement and isolation include agitative behaviour, hallucinations and restlessness. Solitary confinement and isolation can disrupt the function of neurotransmitter systems, which result in unusual behaviour.

Mice experience similar behaviour to humans, including agitation and aggression, fear and hypersensitivity to unfamiliar objects that are viewed as a threat. Neurologically, chronic social isolation for mice activates a neuropeptide found in the central nervous system known as tachykinin. Tachykinin (also known as the TACC2 gene for mice) is produced in the amygdala and hypothalamus of a mouse’s brain. These regions of the mouse brain directly control the behaviour of mice emotionally and socially. Suppressing certain neurochemicals can have an adverse effect on the behaviour of mice.

Confined environment psychology by location
Various experiments have been conducted that physically confine human beings based on location. For example, isolation experiments conducted in Antarctica analysed the dynamics of human relationships during prolonged periods of time. Participants at Concordia Antarctic Research Station experienced different psychological outcomes. Although cognitive performance generally remains unchanged, inactive participants were demotivated and physically strained, whereas the active group were psychologically and physically stable. Given the psychological and physical isolation of residing in Antarctica, there were higher rates of self-diagnosed depression, lower blood pressure levels and lower adrenaline.

The Zimbardo Experiment
Another example of a physical confined environment is the Stanford environment prison test, also known as the Zimbardo experiment. The Zimbardo experiment was conducted by an American psychologist and Stanford University Professor named Phillip Zimbardo in 1971. Using the bottom level of the Psychology building in Stanford University, Zimbardo transformed it into a mock prison, whereby random participants were assigned different prison roles, including prisoners and guards. Each participant was given an ID number and prison uniform to deprive them of their identity. The participants were given their assigned roles and soon started behaving as they were legitimately a prisoner or a prison guard. Those assigned as prison guards began to adopt authoritative mannerisms and asserted their dominance over the prisoners by punishing them physically, often through push-ups. The psychological impact of being in a confined prison was demonstrated when Prisoner #8612 experienced uncontrollable rage within 36 hours of the experiment.

NASA Mars One
The NASA Mars One isolation mission examines the social and individual psychological conditions of living on Mars for 32 to 33 months. There has been extensive research conducted by Michigan State University Professor Steve Kozlowski regarding team cohesion in confined environments. Experiments have been performed around the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii and Antarctica to mimic the conditions of Mars. The official NASA Mars One program is yet to be conducted, with the program aiming to “establish a permanent human settlement in Mars”.

Confined environment psychology by limited social interaction
Social environment confinement can produce similar effects to physical confined environments.

The Amish community
The Amish community, primarily found in Ohio and Pennsylvania, are a religious group that follow a strict lifestyle and limit their social interactions to their own community. When an Amish person marries with a non-Amish person, they are shunned by the community. The Amish community refrain from using advanced technologies, and other facilities that go against their Ordnung, which is their set of rules for daily life. The Ordnung includes the prohibition of public electricity and automobiles. This also applies to the installation of phones within households, however Amish people still recognise the need for phones for communication purposes. The confined mentality of having limited social interaction results in the Amish people being very family-oriented and reliant on family connections for business, particularly for farming practices.

Oxana Malaya (feral child)
Oxana Malaya, a Ukrainian woman raised by dogs, was also in a confined environment due to her limited social interaction. In 1991, the feral child was found living with a pack of dogs, adopting the behaviour of dogs by barking and using all four legs. Though she returned to a relatively normal lifestyle after the discovery of her behaviour, British child psychologist Lyn Fry visited Oxana 5 years after her appearance on the Discovery Channel. Lyn Fry examined her mannerisms, stating that “her language is odd”. Fry made further commented that though her orientation towards humans has improved, there are still some behavioural aspects that still resemble dog-like gestures.

Confined environment experiments using animals
Scientists have utilised rats to conduct experiments to examine behaviour within confined environments. Manipulating a rat’s environment to analyse their behaviour to social isolation has neurological differences, which resemble symptoms of schizophrenia. Such symptoms include memory impairment and hyperactivity. MRI scans of rats in social isolation were performed, and differences in the right and left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were prevalent as it became delineated. The disruption of neurobiological composition of sensorimotor gating is found for both socially isolated rats and non-medicated schizophrenics.

In 2015, another controlled experiment was conducted which explored depression for female rats as a result of social isolation. Conclusions for this experiment stated that the female rats did experience depression, however the anti-depressant drug amitriptyline is able to counteract the psychological effects of the experiment.