Would a small decorative fence deter a burglar? Would Salt Lake residents be happier living on streets where porches are the most prominent part of the homes' front architecture or garages?
Ask Barbara B. Brown, professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah. The answers, respectively, are yes, and porches.Brown is an expert in the social science called environmental psychology, which studies a range of issues relating to how people react to their surroundings, from those trapped in high-rise housing projects to West Valley residents living on large lots.
Think of the field as involving territoriality. It's not the same thing as dogs marking their territory. It is the way people regulate their contacts with others, the way they guard their privacy, and the way they present an identity through their homes' appearance.
One use of the science is preventing burglary, and some of her findings are surprising.
Brown points out that some police departments will advise against putting your name on the outside of your home. But in interviews with burglars and studies of places that are burglarized, she finds that the opposite advice is better.
Personalizing a home makes it look more lived-in, more as if people there care enough to protect it. A name on a mailbox makes a declaration: This place really is private property.
Officers may caution that if a person's name is visible outside, a burglar could go to a telephone and call to make sure nobody's inside. But in practice, thieves usually don't go to that much effort.
"I interviewed a lot of burglars, and none of them used that method of operation," she said.
They resorted to more direct ways of checking: simply knocking at a door and seeing if anyone answered. Then never bothered calling first.
Brown interviewed break-in artists for tips about how to prevent burglaries. "They liked sharing their experience," she said during an interview in her office at the U.'s Alfred Emery Building.
"Burglars in halfway houses and prison are really bored. They were eager to share information." In fact, some even offered to drive around with her once they were released so they could show which places would make the best targets. Brown declined.
Knowing that the usual way to find out if someone is home is simply to knock on the door, Brown has a strategy to deal with strangers who show up without good reason. When she answers the door to a stranger's knock, she stands on the porch and gives the visitor a long stare, memorizing his appearance. Chances are, he'll leave quickly and never return.
Burglary prevention can "make you live in a kind of a paranoid fashion," she conceded.
Other tips to keep away burglars:
-- When you go out of town, have a neighbor put lawn-care gear on the yard, changing its location from day to day. "If you leave the hose and the garden tools out" that creates an impression that people who care about the yard are home.
-- Maintain "symbolic barriers" like fences or hedges. "The fences we use around here on our houses are not going to stop any burglar who wants to get to your property," she said. But studies show they do deter in another way.
Even a flimsy fence or hedge may affect the burglar on a subconscious level, warning him away. "Burglars don't like crossing the same sort of elements that we don't," she said.
In other words, a burglar might be planning to commit an ultimate act of invasion of personal property, but in the back of his mind some territorial restraint may be enough to persuade him to move on.
-- Live in a neighborhood where people care for each other and keep an eye out for the safety of the property of their neighbors. "Burglars are generally more afraid of the neighbors than they are of police," she said. A sense of neighborhood cohesion can be palpable to burglars skulking about.
-- Keep visual connections with neighboring homes. Get rid of obstructions that block the view.
In one study, Brown compared houses that had been burglarized with similar homes that had not, counting the number of doors and windows of neighbors who had a view of the house. The more ways neighbors could see what was going on, the less likely a home was to be burglarized.
-- Make sure your home has a garage. "The garage, I think, fools the burglars as to whether you're home or not," she said. If a family is away on a trip, the burglar won't know there is not a car behind that closed garage door.
Brown said burglars usually don't review a checklist of points that would help them decide whether to hit a particular home. "When I worked with burglars I found they are not able to tell me about minute, little details" of a home.
"They tell me what 'vibes' or the 'feel' that houses give off." That means they are processing many factors simultaneously without evaluating them consciously.
Brown wanted to better understand what they were considering, so she asked burglars to look at pictures of houses and decide whether they thought each was the kind of place they would hit.
"The factor that most predicted whether a house was a good target was whether they thought the neighbors would react to their presence," she said.
Other studies using the techniques of environmental psychology are valuable in helping planners know what not to do.
High-rise public housing projects are near the top of the list of places that are most dangerous and least comfortable for their residents. Many are havens of drug dealing, shakedowns, prostitution and other crimes. Decent people who are trapped there are terrorized.
Brown was horrified by conditions she saw during visits to some of the infamous Chicago high-rise projects.
"It just amazes me that anyone ever thought anyone would enjoy living in those vertical prisons," she said.
In one of the worst of the projects she visited, environmental psychology experts talked with residents about their desires. "The thing people most wanted to improve their neighborhoods there was a metal detector at the front door, in the lobby," she said.
The lesson that planners have learned is never to build high-rise apartments for public housing, as they may turn may turn into dangerous hangouts. However, high-rise buildings are fine for the elderly -- they're unlikely to be found pushing drugs there or shaking down their neighbors.
Environmental psychology doesn't only highlight traps for planners to avoid. Its findings also guide planners about what sort of residential areas people are most comfortable with.
Porches are a prime example of the sort of architectural fixtures people like, according to a study published in the September 1998 issue of Environment and Behavior, a professional journal published for experts in environmental psychology.
The front porch had a great heyday from the 19th century until about the middle of this century. But the advent of the automobile, which cut down on the number of people passing by on the sidewalk and stopping to chat, and television, which drew people inside, made it fall in popularity.
Now, the front porch seems to be making a strong comeback, and the researchers have found out why.
The report was authored out by Brown; John R. Burton, associate professor in the University of Utah family and consumer services department; and Anne L. Sweaney, professor at the University of Georgia. Students at both institutions conducted interviews about the use of porches.
They talked to 272 people in two groups, those who remembered the use of porches in the era from 1920 to 1955, and those who talked about their use from around 1986 to the present.
The findings show that porches can foster both social and psychological benefits.
For an individual, the researchers discovered, a porch can provide a good place to read, survey the neighborhood or enjoy nature. For the household, the porch is a place where children play and where there is contact among friends and all members of the family.
The study concludes, "Porches can support and enhance not just neighborhood cohesion but much-prized leisure time for individuals and families."
In other words, values that made the front porch popular 80 years ago are still important: It's a pleasant place for family and friends.