Research work on robots in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders and psychology has traditionally been developed by researchers with a background primarily in engineering and computer science. As psychology is getting ready to play a more prominent role, there is a chance to apply specific psychological theory and methods. Such application may be facilitated by the establishment of a relevant scientific infrastructure, such as through a specialist journal on robopsychology.
The section - Travel Psychology - contains 3 chapters. Chapter 1 starts by listing different types of travel constraints facing all citizens. For travelers who negotiate their travel constraints and are able to travel, two seminal models for tourism motivations are reviewed. First, the pull and push factors are mentioned along with examples. In a second model, travel motivations are categorized into traveling to gain something and, travelling to get away from something.After reviewing various travel constraints and motivations, Chapter 1 continues by discussing how travelers’ mood and tendencies at any given time could affect the type of travel destination they pursue – historical vs. natural vs. manmade; warm vs. cold; urban vs. country; crowded vs. quiet; familiar vs. novel vs arousing; and, the type of experiences and activities travelers pursue on their vacation. Also, the relationship between less dynamic personality traits and travel decision-makings are discussed: who to travel with, where to stay, what to do; perceived risks; and information seeking behavior. Chapter 1 ends by discussing how travel service providers could play a significant role in helping customers make more informed and authentic decisions that would eventually feed their psychological needs, wants, and wellbeing. This wellbeing perspective to travel is contrasted with a service quality and money-driven perspective in tourism industry and research. Chapter 2 starts by reviewing the fundamentals of the science of positive psychology, defining wellbeing, happiness, and quality of life, and how tourism could be accounted as one element linked to all the above. A page is dedicated to memorable tourism experiences and its different dimensions such as hedonic and eudaimonic experiences, and how some of these memorable experiences positively impact travelers’ subjective wellbeing. In the core of chapter 2, travelers’ diverse needs are discussed under: (a) physiological needs such as quality and attractive local food and drinks, physical activity, and adequate sleep on vacations; (b) mental needs including topics such as expressing emotions before, during, and after vacation, causes and fluctuations of emotions; mood regulations on vacations; mindfulness; technology use; stress recovery mechanisms during vacations namely relaxation, detachment, control, mastery; and optimal challenge and flow states for individuals and group of travelers; (c) interpersonal needs of the traveler including interaction with host community, service providers, and other travelers, e.g., joint experiences of romantic partners and family members. Throughout chapter 2, how service providers and experience designers could more effectively monitor, identify, and address these physiological, mental, and social needs are thoroughly discussed. Moreover, evidence and research-based travel tips are offered to general travelers for observing, attending to, appreciating, and enhancing positive emotions during the anticipation phase of a vacation, during the actual trip, on the way home, and up to two weeks post-vacation. A small section at the end of Chapter 2 is devoted to the psychology of holidays and staycations for employees with stressful jobs. Chapter 3 discusses how small occasions during vacations can accumulate and sometimes have long-term psychological effects on travelers. This chapter reviews the psychological of souvenirs, savoring, and photography on vacations. It continues by talking about the concepts of self-awareness, learning, growth, meaning and transformation, related to vacations, using examples. Chapter 3 ends by encouraging travel planners and designers to invest in long-term benefits of vacations.This handbook contains a total of 42 chapters on a range of topics aimed at educating employees at tourism service providers in Iran. This book is in press and distribution, and will be the official source for the national exam for the national travel agency certification in Iran. Topics of this book include the following: tour design and operations, travel psychology, air travel, tour marketing, human resource management, accounting, travel technology, travel start-ups, strategic management, and ethics.
This is the first of a series of four articles on psychological foundations from an applied psychological perspective. To begin with, the psychology of give and take, which is contradictory in its application, like many basic psychological mechanisms: sometimes emphasized, sometimes denied. In this first article it is argued that humans are equipped with a psychological reciprocity mechanism that constantly judges whether give and take in the social group we belong to is in balance (reciprocal altruism: favour others at their own expense, because it is later repaid). On the other hand, sometimes it is necessary to hide inequalities in give and take, especially in a complex hierarchical society.
This project develops a European network for transdisciplinary innovation in artistic engagement as a catalyst for societal transformation, focusing on immersive art. It responds to the professionals in the field’s call for research into immersive art’s unique capacity to ‘move’ people through its multisensory, technosocial qualities towards collective change. The project brings together experts leading state-of-the-art research and practice in related fields with an aim to develop trajectories for artistic, methodological, and conceptual innovation for societal transformation. The nascent field of immersive art, including its potential impact on society, has been identified as a priority research area on all local-to-EU levels, but often suffers from the common (mis)perception as being technological spectacle prioritising entertainment values. Many practitioners create immersive art to enable novel forms of creative engagement to address societal issues and enact change, but have difficulty gaining recognition and support for this endeavour. A critical challenge is the lack of knowledge about how their predominantly sensuous and aesthetic experience actually lead to collective change, which remains unrecognised in the current systems of impact evaluation predicated on quantitative analysis. Recent psychological insights on awe as a profoundly transformative emotion signals a possibility to address this challenge, offering a new way to make sense of the transformational effect of directly interacting with such affective qualities of immersive art. In parallel, there is a renewed interest in the practice of cultural mediation, which brings together different stakeholders to facilitate negotiation towards collective change in diverse domains of civic life, often through creative engagements. Our project forms strategic grounds for transdisciplinary research at the intersection between these two developments. We bring together experts in immersive art, psychology, cultural mediation, digital humanities, and design across Europe to explore: How can awe-experiences be enacted in immersive art and be extended towards societal transformation?
Bij de ontwikkeling van kinderen speelt de omgeving waarin zij opgroeien en de wijze waarop zij zich verbonden voelen met hun buurt een belangrijke rol (Owens, 2004; 2016). Om als basisschool goed bij te kunnen dragen aan de ontwikkeling van kinderen is het van belang dat scholen de omgeving en de buurt waarin hun leerlingen opgroeien kennen en kunnen benutten voor hun onderwijs. In het bijzonder gaat het daarbij om de betekenis die deze omgeving voor hun leerlingen heeft. Voor basisscholen in wijken met een grote diversiteit aan inwoners kan de betekenis van eenzelfde omgeving voor verschillende leerlingen ook zeer verschillend zijn. Naar de wijze waarop kinderen zich verbonden voelen met de fysieke en sociale ruimte is nog weinig onderzoek gedaan (Tani, 2016). Naast inzicht in de bestaande verbinding van kinderen met hun omgeving is het voor het onderwijs belangrijk om inzicht te verkrijgen in de wijze waarop kinderen in staat kunnen worden gesteld om zich te binden aan een plek en om deze plek te benutten bij hun ontwikkeling. De capability approach (Nussbaum, 2014) en een perspectief op de veerkracht van kinderen (Enthoven, 2007) bieden een kader om naar dit vraagstuk te kijken. Het onderzoek richt zich op wat het primair onderwijs kan doen om de aan de omgeving gerelateerde vermogens van kinderen te ontwikkelen. Onderwijs waarin de leefomgeving van kinderen wordt betrokken of waarin de leefomgeving op enige wijze een rol speelt kan hiertoe een middel zijn. Dit vanuit de notie dat door het ontwikkelen van een ‘sense of place’ (Dolan, 2016) de kennis, persoonlijke verbondenheid en verantwoordelijkheid voor de lokale omgeving versterkt kunnen worden. Het onderzoek zal na een verkennende fase een ontwerpgericht karakter krijgen, waarbij op onderzoeksmatige wijze materiaal wordt ontwikkeld dat bruikbaar is op basisscholen en lerarenopleidingen basisonderwijs.
Vacation travel is an essential ingredient in quality of life. However, the contribution of vacations to quality of life could be improved in two ways: by optimizing the decisions people make when planning and undertaking their vacations, and by travel industry testing and implementing––based on evidence from the experience lab––innovative experience products which touch customers' emotions.
