Impact of Kettering Univ. Dorm Design on Students' Mental Health: Spatial Analysis, Essays (university) of Rhetoric

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Why the Kettering University

Dorms Are Not Conducive for

Students’ Mental Health

By: Tanner C. Behr

Dr. Whitney Hardin

COMM-201, Summer 2020

Spatial Analysis Assignment

Introduction Have you ever found yourself thinking about something, then forget what it was as soon as you walk through a doorway? While some may blame this on poor cognitive function, many psychologists would agree that you have simply suffered from the doorway effect. Developed by Dr. Radvansky, the doorway affect explains how our brains can shape certain parts of our memories around the space which surrounds us. It is one of many key arguments, in specific cases, for the tie between how and why our spaces in our everyday lives are so important to how we develop. This is because our brains use our surroundings to understand what they are supposed to be doing. When you lay down for bed, your brain knows it’s time to sleep. When you sit down at your desk, your mind is preparing to work. These key indications telling your brain what to do are so important, that scrambling them together can impede your mental capacity and health. Small rooms, lack of social interaction, the inability to concentrate, and lack of comfort can all impede a developing mind from reaching its true potential. It is due to these very issues however, that the Kettering University dorm room design does not aid in students’ learning experience. Figure 1. Kettering University Dorm “Suite” layout from their website [8] Design The Kettering University dorm space is a single room with a suitemate (think of a suitemate as an optional roommate you can lock the door on if you want to) on the other side. Each room comes standard with the bare-bone essentials for a student to exist within that space. As displayed in Figure 1 above, this includes the desk, loft-able bed, chair, smaller movable drawer desk, microwave, minifridge, and a large immobile dresser which is affixed to the walls and floors. This allows for the student to move the furniture for some personalization, however the blank crème colored brick which surrounds the room cannot be changed (less you feel inclined to hang pictures with low-tac blue tape). There is also a window in each room which faces either into the building’s empty square courtyard or the exterior parking lot/construction areas. Everything about the dorms was planned with the students in mind, but not for the students’ minds as they offer an optimal number of students a suboptimal amount of space.

work you have laid out on the desk with the terrible iridescent lighting straining your eyes after long periods of work. On top of that the Xbox, Tv, iPad, and bed are all just in sight. Remember the Doorway Effect discussed earlier? Every time you walk into your dorm room, your brain observes the surroundings and makes a decision on what to do. If you constantly watch Tv or play video games in bed right next to your desk, the next time you sit at your desk your brain is thinking about how close you are to the bed and the Tv. You may not know it, but The Doorway Effect has taken ahold of what you will eventually do, and your habits will only get worse. Comfort Although fully furnished, the dorms do not bring feng shui for the student. Most of the furnishings can be moved but that is where the ability to personalize the room meets its peak. The cold hard crème brick walls are all painted a single color and feel as though someone tried to liven up a prison cell with some paint. Additionally, the use of command strips, duct tape, or anything which is a strong enough adhesive to hold most small picture frames are not allowed to be used on these walls. Your options are to stare at the cool colors which constantly clash the blue turf style carpet, or use a whole role of painter’s tape so that you can be reminded that you have a life outside of your dorm room. Speaking of outside the dorm room, the view that each room gives its students can have a significant impact on that student’s comfort and mental health during their college stays. As Mike Campbell, a UF graduate student in psychology studying student’s psychological health for his dissertation said, “There is some thought that part of the attraction of scenes of nature, particularly edge environments, between forest and plains, could be because our ancestors evolved in these sorts of landscapes.” This suggests that the design of the dorms being directed towards an asphalt flat, a square brick courtyard, or a construction zone does not stand in favor for the students “admiring” the view. Conclusion A student’s primary function in school is to learn, grow, and develop both academic and social skills while in college. While the dorms are often an easy way for a student to learn how to be independent within their own space, that independent space is damaging to their true mental health and capacity. The small size of the dorms causes students to become disorganized and reclusive. The reclusiveness affects their social skills and damages their ability to interact with others to assist in studies or other types of work. This causes them to work in their dorms and interact with others less often. While studying in their dorms the student is easily distracted by either the various escapes their brain recognizes, or just by their clutter. Regardless of the order of these events taking place, each one of them contributes to the dorms becoming detrimental to the student’s mental health.

Citations [1] “Brain Development.” Parenting For Brain. Accessed August 14, 2020. https://www.parentingforbrain.com/category/braindevelopment/. [2] Brenner, Charles B. “Why Walking through a Doorway Makes You Forget.” Scientific American. Scientific American, December 13, 2011. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-walking-through-doorway-makes-you- forget/. [3] “Claustrophobia Statistics and Facts.” The Recovery Village. The Recovery Village, May 13,

2019. https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/mental-health/claustrophobia/claustrophobia- statistics/. [4] “Guide to Residence Life 2019-2020.Docx.pdf.” Google Drive. Google. Accessed August 14,
2020. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-yQpZ0G4IhIstO8E_J4lm0NpEgPYjqqI/view. [5] “How Clutter Affects Your Brain Health.” Prevagen. Accessed August 14, 2020. https://www.prevagen.com/brain-health-tips/how-clutter-affects-your-brain/. [6] Mcgee, T., M. Hayatbakhsh, W. Bor, Michael Cerruto, A. Dean, R. Alati, R. Mills, G. Williams, M. O'callaghan, and J. Najman. “Antisocial Behaviour across the Life Course: An Examination of the Effects of Early Onset Desistence and Early Onset Persistent Antisocial Behaviour in Adulthood: Semantic Scholar.” undefined, January 1, 1970. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Antisocial-behaviour-across-the-life-course:-An- of-Mcgee-Hayatbakhsh/91116930846b8e739f6e04f5419d0b5a31c947d5. [7] “New Study Uncovers Some of the Psychological Roots of the Aggressive Tendencies of Narcissists.” PsyPost, August 9, 2020. https://www.psypost.org/2020/08/new-study- uncovers-some-of-the-psychological-roots-of-the-aggressive-tendencies-of-narcissists-

[8] “Residence Life.” Kettering University. Accessed August 14, 2020. https://www.kettering.edu/undergraduate-admissions/campus-life/reslife. [9] “UF Researcher: Dorm Room Design Features Affect Psychological Health.” News. Accessed August 14, 2020. https://news.ufl.edu/archive/1998/08/uf-researcher-dorm-room- design-features-affect-psychological-health.html.