On the Combined Influence of Attractive and Unattractive Locations on the Surroundings

Living near an unsafe housing block or a landfill is unattractive because of their negative influence on the environment. The question we ask is Would a nearby attractive location cancel out this negative influence? In two studies, participants were shown fictitious neighborhoods that contained an unattractive location (an unsafe housing block or a landfill) located close to an attractive location (one's own home or a park). The participants were asked to evaluate how pleasant it would feel to live at increasing distances from these locations. The results showed that positively evaluated locations can mitigate but not entirely neutralize the effects of negatively evaluated locations. The present research elucidates how people combine the effects of sources of positive and negative influence.