Environment

Cultural psychology of the environment considers human-environment relationships or human-space relationships as meaning-mediated and at least partially subjective relations. In this context, environments form the framework in which cultural meaning systems manifest themselves and in which people act. Historically, the concept of environment is derived from geography, sociology and biology, and found its way into psychology through the concepts of social and personal living space. This chapter explains how strongly an emotional attachment to space and places (homemaking) is mediated through psychological processes. It also clarifies that the environment functions as a semiotic map, in which elements of the natural environment play an important role for human-environment relationships. Using the example of the Mapuche in Chile, the sacralization of the environment as a culture-specific form of treating nature as a spiritual source in indigenous memory is presented.