Abstract
What comes to mind when someone says the word “home?” The meanings for the term home are numerous. Everyone probably has a sense of what is meant by the phrase “going home” or what is meant by characterizing a place as “homey.” For example, when looking through a new house, a prospective buyer may say that it “feels like home.” In this chapter, we outline our scientific approach for understanding the concept of home. We provide empirical support for a brief measure that taps into the construct that we have labeled psychological home. In addition, we will summarize studies that have provided evidence for the reliability and validity of this measure (Sigmon, Boulard, & Snyder, 1998). Although research is in the early stages of development, we believe there are far-reaching implications for this construct.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home. (Edgar A. Guest, Home)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ahrentzen, S. B. (1992). Home as a workplace in the lives of women. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment, (pp. 113–138). New York: Plenum Press.
Barker, R.G. & Schoggen, P. (1973). Qualities of community life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Brown, B.B. & Perkins, D.D. (1992). Disruptions in place attachment. In: I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.) Place attachment, (pp. 279–304). New York: Plenum Press.
Cantrill, J. (1998). The environmental self and a sense of place: Communication foundations for regional ecosystem management. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 26, 301–318.
Chavis, D. & Pretty, G. M. H. (1999). Sense of community: Advances in measurement and application. Journal of Community Psychology, 27, 635–642.
Garcia, I., Giuliani, F., & Wiesenfeld, E. (1999). Community and sense of community: The case of an urban barrio in Caracas. Journal of Community Psychology, 27, 727–740.
Hay, R. (1998). Sense of place in developmental context. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 18, 5–29.
Hill, J. (1996). Psychological sense of community: Suggestions for future research. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 431–438.
Horowitz, J., & Tognoli, J. (1982). Role of home in adult development: Women and men living alone describe their residential histories. Journal of Applied Family & Child Studies, 31, 335–341.
Howard, I. (1998). From the inside out: The farm as place. In A. Light & J.M. Smith (Eds.), Philosophy and geography III: Philosophies of place (pp. 147–167). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Langer, E. J., & Rodin, J. (1976). The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: A field experiment in an institutional setting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 191–198.
Lounsbury, J., & DuNeui, D. (1996). Collegiate psychological sense of community in relation to size of college/university and extroversion. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 381–394.
Low, S. M., & Altman, I. (1992). Place attachment: A conceptual inquiry. In I. Altman & S. M. Low (Eds.), Place attachment (pp. 1–12). New York: Plenum Press.
Malpas, F. (1998). Finding place: Spatiality, locality, and subjectivity. In A. Light & J.M. Smith (Eds.), Philosophy and geography III: Philosophies of place (pp. 21–43). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
McMillan, D. (1996). Sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 315–325.
McMillan, D. W. & Chavis, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory [Special Issue]. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6–23.
O’Donnell, C.R., Tharp, R.G. & Wilson, K. (1993). Activity settings as the unit of analysis: A theoretical basis for community intervention and development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 501–520.
Pastalan, L. & Polakow, V. (1987). Life space over the life span. Journal of Housing for the Elderly, 4, 73–85.
Pred, A. (1983). Structuration and place: On the becoming of sense of place and structure of feeling. Journal of the Theory of Social Behaviour, 13, 45–68.
Pretty, G., Conroy, C., Dugay, J., Fowler, K., & Williams, D. (1996). Sense of community and its relevance to adolescents of all ages. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 365–379.
Prezza, M. & Constantini, S. (1998). Sense of community and life satisfaction: Investigation in three different territorial contexts. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 8, 181–194.
Puddifoot, J. (1996). Some initial considerations in the measurement of community identity. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 327–336.
Royal, M., & Rossi, R. (1996). Individual-level correlates of sense of community: Findings from workplace and school. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 395–416.
Seamon, D. (1979). A geography of the lifeworld: Movement, rest, and encounter. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Sigmon, S.T., Boulard, N.E., & Snyder, C.R. (1998, August). Psychological home. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Sixsmith, J. (1986). The meaning of home: An exploratory study of environmental experience. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 6, 281–298.
Shorter, J. (1996). A sense of place, Vico and the social production of social identities. British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 199–211.
Smith, J., Light, A., & Roberts, D. (1998). Introduction: Philosophies and geographies of place. In A. Light & J.M. Smith (Eds.), Philosophy and geography III: Philosophies of place (pp. 1–19). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Snyder, C. R., & Franklin, H. (1980). Uniqueness: The human pursuit of difference. New York: Plenum.
Sonn, C. C., & Fisher, A. T. (1996). Psychological sense of community in a politically constructed group. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 417–430.
Wasserman, D., Womersley, M., & Gottlieb, S. (1998). Can a sense of place be preserved? In A. Light & J.M. Smith (Eds.), Philosophy and geography III: Philosophies of place (pp. 191–213). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Wiesenfeld, E. (1996). The concept of “we”: A community social psychology myth? Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 337–345.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sigmon, S.T., Whitcomb, S.R., Snyder, C.R. (2002). Psychological Home. In: Fisher, A.T., Sonn, C.C., Bishop, B.J. (eds) Psychological Sense of Community. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0719-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0719-2_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5209-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0719-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive