Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: This work explored if variety (versus consistency) of campus architecture could signal belonging and, if so, why.A Pilot Study found that those who viewed architectural heterogeneity (versus homogeneity) reported greater anticipated belonging, which was mediated by greater perceptions of valuing diversity.Study 1 replicated the methods of the Pilot Study while eliminating a potential confound between architectural consistency, homogeneity and heterogeneity, and architectural style, traditional and modern (respectively).Namely, participants were shown sets of homogeneous or heterogeneous campus buildings that either featured traditional or modern architecture and then reported anticipated belonging, perceptions of campus bias, and perceptions that the campus valued diversity.Results of Study 1 failed to replicate the mediated effect from the Pilot Study.However, they showed that modern (versus traditional) architecture indirectly increased belonging via greater valuing diversity.Study 2 used causal chain logic to further investigate the impact of valuing diversity on anticipated belonging.Participants read about a fictitious university that either highly valued diversity or did not; predicting that those in the former condition would forecast greater anticipated belonging than those in the latter condition.This prediction was not supported.Implications of the results for understanding the impacts of architecture on belonging are discussed.
Author: DeWitt, Brett
Institution: Miami University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7017836523