In addition to what I said, this can also of course be used for businesses....

Supermarkets and Department Stores are big on researching exactly how the layout of the store, the music they play, etc., affects people's BUYING habits. For example, they've found that playing slow music means people buy MORE than if they play fast music....

Another interesting application of this was I read of how they brought down crime in New York City in the early- and mid- 1990s.

Apparently what they cracked down on was NOT "big" crime, but small things like vandalism, graffiti, and riding the subway without a fare. Many of these things (like graffiti, or seeing people dodge the turnstiles for the subway) are part of the "environment" and affect everyone's behavior in general....

If you put people in an environment where they constantly see the effects of crime (like graffiti), it affects their behavior and it makes people in general more likely to commit crimes (both large and small) themselves.

But -- change the environment, and you change people's behavior. And it was by cracking down on the little things which affect the general "environment" that NYC was able to dramatically reduce all crimes -- both big and small. (I have more detailed info on this if anyone's interested....)

- Dien