Environment and Behavior

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for free access to the SAGE eReference platform!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kweon, B.-S.
Right arrow Articles by Tassinary, L. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Environment and Behavior, Vol. 40, No. 3, 355-381 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916506298797

Anger and Stress

The Role of Landscape Posters in an Office Setting

Byoung-Suk Kweon

University of Michigan, kweonb{at}umich.edu

Roger S. Ulrich

Texas A&M University

Verrick D. Walker

PageSoutherlandPage

Louis G. Tassinary

Texas A&M University, lou{at}archone.tamu.edu

Anger and stress management have become important issues in the modern workplace. One out of four American workers report themselves to be chronically angry, which has been linked to negative outcomes such as retaliatory behavior, revenge, interpersonal aggression, poor work performance, absenteeism, and increased turnover. We hypothesized that people who work in office environments decorated with aesthetically engaging art posters would experience less stress and anger in response to task-related frustration. Two hundred and ten college students were randomly assigned to different office conditions where abstract and nature paintings were hung on the walls. Participants performed four mild anger-provoking computer tasks and then reported their levels of state anger and stress. Results indicate that different office conditions had a significant influence on state anger and stress for males but not for females. Males experienced less state anger and stress when art posters were present. Through mediation analysis, we found that increased proportions of nature paintings decreased state anger because of decreased levels of stress.

Key Words: state anger • stress • landscape • office environments • art posters


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?