Gary Evans
Professor
2008
DEAWeb Bio Page
Current Activities
Current Professional Activities
Academic Expertise: Professor Evans is an environmental and developmental psychologist interested in how the physical environment affects human health and well being among children. His specific areas of expertise include environmental stress, children's environments, and the environment of poverty.
Professor Evans received an Honorary Doctorate from Stockholm University in Sweden in 2006 and is a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health and on the Board of Children, Youth, and Families for the National Academy of Sciences. He is the 1997 recipient of the EDRA Career Award and Past-President of the Division of Environmental Psychology of the International Association of Applied Psychology. Evans spent the 1998-1999 academic year on a Senior National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for advanced training in human development. He has a Ph.D. in environmental psychology with post-doctoral training in psychoneuroendocrinology. Professor Evans has given several hundred lectures and invited talks in over 20 different countries. Professor Evans is the recipient of numerous teaching awards.
Current Research Activities
Gary Evans is the author of over 300 scholarly articles and book chapters plus four books. Current research is focused on environmental stress, children's environments (e.g. schools, daycare, housing), and the environment of poverty. He is also doing work on the development of environmental attitudes and behaviors in children. Professor Evans' work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Mac Arthur Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Swedish Work Environment Fund. Professor Evans has been awarded two Fulbright Research Fellowships and is the recipient of a Senior National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. He recently held a fellowship in Rome from the University of Rome, La Sapienza I.
Biography
Education
Colgate University 1971 AB Highest Honors in Psychology
University of MA, Amherst 1973 MS Psychology
University of MA, Amherst 1975 PhD Psychology
Karolinska Institute, Stockholm Sweden 1988 Post Doctoral Psychoneuroendocrinology
National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, National Research Service Award,
1999 Human Development
Courses, Websites, Pubs
Courses Taught
DEA 150 Introduction to Human Environment Relations
Introduction to how the physical environment and human behavior inter-relate. How are health, moods and emotions, preferences, performance, interpersonal relationships, communication, and organizational effectiveness, influenced by the physical environment? We also examine the flip side of this focus. How do human attitudes and behaviors affect the environment? The course is organized into four major sections, each devoted to one setting: Home, City, Work, and Earth. Within each section various Human-Environment Relations Processes are discussed. Each of these processes helps explain how and why human behavior and the environment inter-relate. Two examples of HER processes are privacy and environmental attitudes. Each section ends with several case studies illustrating how these HER Processes can be put to work to improve human health and welfare, as well as the conditions of our environment. Every other week hands on exercises and projects are conducted in small discussion sections in lieu of lecture. An optional Writing in the Major section is available to all students. Three preliminary examinations, and two projects from the discussion sections are required. No pre-requisites for this class.
DEA 250/660 Environment and Social Behavior
This course is organized around two core principles of Human Environment Relations. First, although the physical environment can directly affect human behavior, more typically the effects of the physical environment are indirect. Both the social context and personal variables can alter or moderate the nature of human-environment relations. Second, it is not sufficient to evaluate design in terms of aesthetics alone. Good design is more than pleasing the eye. Design subtly and at times forcefully fosters or inhibits the human spirit. The two main projects for this class are: a. a collaborative design programming project with an interior design studio to assist a not-for-profit organization in need of design work; b. a post-occupancy evaluation of a facility that serves individuals with special needs. DEA 150 is a pre-requisite.
HE 310 Mentoring in Higher Education
Human Ecology upperclassmen who are mentors in the College Partnership Program take this seminar as part of their preparation and support for their work as mentors with incoming students to the College. This course is also a Writing in the Major seminar. Topics include: mentoring, adult development, peer counseling, cross-cultural counseling, racism, minorities in higher education and in the professions.
Related Websites
DEA 150 Course Website
http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/dea150/main.htm
Selected Publications
Evans, G.W. & Kim, P. (2007). Childhood poverty and health. Psychological Science.
Evans et al. (2007). Cumulative risk, maternal responsiveness, and allostatic load among young adolescents. Developmental Psychology.
Evans et al. (2007). Young children's environmental attitudes and behaviors. Environment and Behavior.
Evans, G.W. (2006). Child development and the physical environment. Annual Review of Psychology
Evans, G.W. & Wener, R. (2006). Rail commuting duration and passenger stress. Health Psychology.
Evans, G.W., et. al. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and children's socioemotional adjustment. Psychological Science
Evans, G.W. & Marcynyszyn, L.A. (2004). Environmental justice, cumulative environmental risk, and health among low- and middle- income children. American Journal of Public Health
Evans, G.W. (2004). The environment of childhood poverty. American Psychologist
Evans, G.W. (2003). A multimethodological analysis of cumulative risk and allostatic load among rural children. Developmental Psychology.
Evans, G.W. & English, K. (2002). The environment of poverty: Multiple stessor exposure, psychophysiological stress, and socioemotional adjustment. Child Development.
Evans, G.W. & Kantrowitz, E. (2002). Socioeconomic status and health: The potential role of environmental risk exposure. Annual Review of Public Health.
Evans, G.W. (2001). Environmental stress and health. In A. Baum, T. Revenson & J.E. Singer (Eds.). Handbook of Health Psychology, Mahway, NJ: Erlbaum
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Evans, G.W. (2000). Developmental science in the 21st century. Social Development.
Evans, G.W., et al. (1999). Parental language and verbal responsiveness in children in crowded homes. Developmental Psychology.
Evans, G.W., et al. (1998). Chronic residential crowding and children's well being: An ecological perspective. Child Development.
Evans, G.W., et. al. (1995). Chronic noise and psychological stress. Psycholgical Science
Garling, T., & Evans, G.W. (1991). Environment, cognition and action. NY: Oxford.
Cohen, S., Evans, G.W., Stokols, D., & Krantz, D.S., (1986). Behavior, health and environmental stress. NY: Plenum.
Evans, G.W. (Ed.) (1982). Environmental stress. NY: Cambridge.