The paper examines the relationship between the perceived psychosocial climate of the classroom and academic performance of the students, using School Environment Inventory. Six dimensions of psychosocial climate (Creative Stimulation, Cognitive Encouragement, Permissiveness, Acceptance, Rejection, and Control) were measured on 38 students from two schools offering ICSE curriculum and 72 students from two schools of Karnataka State Board. Correlation analysis of academic performance with psychosocial climate dimensions reveal that the academic performance improves when Permissiveness is higher, and it weakens as Rejection increases.

The modern use of the term environment can be traced back to 1951. Lewin (1951) believed that the individual behavior is determined by both inner and outer influences in a situation. He proposed the concept of life space, which is the function of interplay of personality, individual factors and the perceived environment of the individual.Barker (1968) made the first significant contribution to environmental psychology, bringing out the influence of social settings on human behavior through studies based on field observations. De Young (1999) has defined environmental psychology as the interrelationship between environment and human behavior. He used the term environment in a broader sense to include the social settings (built environment, learning environment and informational environment). Hence research in this field needs a holistic approach, encompassing all these variables.

The physical environmental factors, such as space, and seating arrangement have been the subject of interest for environmental psychologists. Effective use of physical space has been found to have an impact on perception and performance of incumbents. Applying these principles to the field of education reveals that the academic interest and performance are also dependent on the physical environment, for example—the arrangement of furniture in a room influences the way in which people in the room interact; the structure of the learning environment is as important as acoustics, temperature, lighting and odor. These physical aspects tend to influence psychosocial aspects such as mood, emotions, behavior and learning capabilities of individuals (Stokobs and Eds, 1987). Teachers need to provide the stimulating climate in the classroom so that each student is encouraged to do her/his best. Academic excellence cannot be realized without satisfactory man-environment relationship in the institution.

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