The Interplay Between Gender and Controlled Environments: A Study on Stimulus Perception

Understanding the interplay of gender and environmental perception is important in recognizing how architectural environments can either reinforce or challenge gendered norms and experiences. Literature reviews at a glance show differences between the environmental perception of women and men, which have significant implications for projects aimed at improving the quality of the environment. Thus, 240 architecture students were invited to participate in a photo exhibition of forty images of various architectural buildings and answer a survey questions regarding the content of photos in the current study. The purpose was to determine how students perceive the environment and to examine perceptual differences among them. Data obtained were collected based on inferential and comparative approaches and were analyzed with SPSS software using Pearson correlation tests and one-sample t-tests. Specifically, the results suggest that females pay more detailed attention to the environment’s components than males, while males focus more holistically on the environment content. The results typically indicate that individuals are sensitive to all aspects when confronted with the environment, so all of their senses are active in such a process, accordingly, this should be considered when designing the environment so that all of the user’s senses are stimulated in a desired manner.