The PAD Model: How does space control human affect?

This article introduces the three-dimensional PAD model of emotion, developed by Albert Mehrabian and James A. Russell, which forms the foundation of contemporary environmental psychology. The author explains how the dimensions of pleasure, arousal, and dominance allow us to map human responses to the environment within a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. The text emphasizes the importance of agency and spatial control, which distinguishes states such as anger from anxiety. The PAD model is widely used in affective computing, user interface design, and architecture, offering mathematical precision in modeling affect. Its simplicity and functionality allow us to understand why specific physical environments trigger specific actions in us, from approaching a stimulus to instinctive flight.