Deck 14: Environmental Psychology

Question 1

Environmental psychologists

A) study the impact that people have on the natural environment.
B) study the influence of the environment on the behavior and well-being of the person.
C) use only animal subjects in controlled laboratory experiments.
D) use only naturalistic observation in their research.

Answer 1

study the influence of the environment on the behavior and well-being of the person.

Question 2

Internal states, such as feelings or emotions, can be measured by

A) making inferences based upon data obtained from rating scales.
B) direct observation of the participant.
C) physiological measures.
D) all of these.

Answer 2

making inferences based upon data obtained from rating scales.

Question 3

If density is manipulated by increasing the number of people and holding the room size constant, then any observable differences could be due to

A) density only.
B) number of people only.
C) room size only.
D) either density or the number of people.

Answer 3

either density or the number of people.

Question 4

The generalization of research from laboratory animals to humans is an example of

A) variable representativeness.
B) variable generalization.
C) sample generalization.
D) conceptual generalization.

Question 5

Regarding the scientific method, which of the following is true?

A) It is self-correcting.
B) It has no limitations.
C) It is not the best way to decide which of two opposing beliefs is correct.
D) None of these

Question 6

Research on crowding behavior using different subjects and different research methods

A) shows consistent negative effects of crowding on human and animal behavior.
B) shows different kinds of effects depending on the sample and the method used.
C) illustrates the superiority of field studies over laboratory experiments on crowding.
D) illustrates the superiority of laboratory experiments over field studies on crowding.

Question 7

True experiments are ____________ to any correlational study.

A) always superior
B) never superior
C) generally preferred
D) equivalent to

Question 8

Experiments that are representative

A) serve as good examples of particular research strategies.
B) are generally based upon a totally random sampling procedure.
C) allow us to generalize their results beyond the specific.
D) allow us to draw conclusions only about the specific sample used.

Question 9

The degree to which the results of an experiment can be generalized can also be described as the

A) reliability of an experiment.
B) the internal validity of an experiment.
C) the representativeness of an experiment.
D) the effect size of the results obtained.

Question 10

A new approach to driver training is tested and found to be effective in a sample of high school students taking a driver's education course. These students have a higher rate of passing their road tests on their first attempt compared to a control group of students taught using the older approach. Before suggesting that this method be used in driving schools that teach adults to drive, the researcher wants to be sure that this method will be equally effective for adult student drivers. The researcher is concerned about

A) sample generalization.
B) variable representativeness.
C) a placebo effect.
D) internal validity.

Question 11

Baron and Bell (1976) found that high temperatures do not necessarily lead to increased aggression. Generalizing this result to an urban setting, it might be concluded that long hot summers do not lead to aggression. This illustrates the general problem of

A) incorrect interpretations of the results of a laboratory experiment.
B) variable representativeness.
C) subject generalization.
D) an inappropriate inference based on data from a flawed experiment.

Question 12

A marketing company has found that a specific training program works extremely well with the company's top executives. The company now wants to use this program with its middle management personnel, but it is unsure of how successful the program will be. This is a specific instance of the more general problem of

A) sample selection.
B) sample generalization.
C) sample bias.
D) statistical reliability.

Question 13

In comparing the research on crowding using laboratory rats to similar research using non-human primates, it was found that

A) crowding had the same effect on the behavior of rats and non-human primates.
B) crowding had an effect on the behavior of rats but not on the behavior of non-human primates.
C) crowding had an effect on the behavior of non-human primates but not on the behavior of rats.
D) crowding led to more aggressive behavior in rats and to more coping behavior in non-human primates.

Question 14

A psychologist discovers that moderate, but unpredictable, noise during a cognitively demanding task leads to a significant increase in negative evaluations of their partners by participants doing the task in cooperation with another student. Whether a similar level of unpredictable noise occurring in a college dormitory will have an adverse effect on students' evaluations of their roommates is an issue of

A) sample generalization.
B) a density effect.
C) an interaction.
D) variable representativeness.

Question 15

Many environmental psychologists have turned away from laboratory studies and have turned towards field studies because of

A) the problem of establishing variable representativeness in the laboratory.
B) the greater flexibility for conducting experiments in the field.
C) experimenter bias.
D) ethical issues.

Question 16

Informed consent of human subjects

A) is not always possible to obtain in field research.
B) is of little concern to psychologists.
C) is particularly important in correlational studies.
D) is not an important consideration in field research.

Question 17

Calhoun's studies with rats imply that high density causes pathological behaviors. Evans et al.'s demographic study showed

A) that overcrowding causes psychological symptoms in humans.
B) that overcrowding does not cause psychological symptoms in humans.
C) there is a correlation between density and psychological symptoms.
D) there is no correlation between density and psychological symptoms.

Question 18

In Saegert et al.'s (1975) field study on the effects of crowding in humans, _________ was confounded with _________.

A) type of task; density
B) time allowed to perform the task; density
C) sex of the participant; type of task
D) time of day; density

Question 19

The question of whether Drug X, which has been found harmful to laboratory mice, is harmful to humans is a specific example of the more general problem termed

A) reliability.
B) validity.
C) sample generalization.
D) a placebo effect.

Question 20

To say that science, "…looks where its tools provide the best illumination" means

A) scientists tend to focus their efforts on the issues that are best suited to the research tools available.
B) scientists are not interested in studying important social phenomena.
C) the scientific method can be applied to every area of human experience.
D) advances in science are limited only by the imagination of the scientist.

Question 21

Experiments involving deception and concealment must be conducted only with great caution, if at all, because the right of informed consent cannot be granted.

Question 22

The difficulty of obtaining informed consent from research participants in field research

A) makes field research impossible.
B) must be considered in light of the potential benefits of the research as well as the potential harm to the participants.
C) is not considered important in the area of environmental psychology.
D) can be safely ignored when no identifying information about the participants is recorded.

Question 23

Baron and Bell's (1976) laboratory experiments showed that heat causes aggression.

Question 24

The studies on crowding in rats, if generalized to humans, suggest that crowding would not be detrimental to humans.

Question 25

The right of informed consent cannot always be granted in research. In such cases, the potential harm to participants must be balanced against the potential worth of the research.

Question 26

The right of informed consent states that the experimenter has a clear obligation to explain to participants all salient features of the research before the experiment is conducted to allow the participants the opportunity to decline from participating.

Question 27

A criterion that is seldom used for judging the utility of an experiment is its representativeness.

Question 28

Density of people is an independent variable studied by environmental psychologists.

Question 29

Which of the following would be considered ex post facto research?

A) A group of adults who live in close proximity to an airport is compared on their levels of stress to a matched group of adults from the same community who do not live near the airport, before and
After the expansion of the airport.
B) The levels of stress among the residents of a suburban community are measured and correlated to the distance of their homes from a local airport.
C) A sample of adults is recruited from the local community and assigned randomly to one of two conditions; half are asked to complete a series of self-report measures, including a measure of
Stress, while listening to white noise on a set of headphones and the other half are asked to
Complete the same measures while listening to a recording of airplane noise from a nearby airport.
D) Elementary school children and their parents are compared on a measure of stress given before and after the expansion of a nearby airport.

Question 30

In the area of environmental psychology, it is easy to require random assignment of participants to experimental conditions.

Question 31

Two types of representativeness are sample generalization and variable representativeness.

Question 32

In Calhoun's studies of crowding with rats, overcrowding led to higher rates of pregnancy.

Question 33

Statements about causation can be made only if a study has a high degree of variable representativeness.

Question 34

An environmental psychologist studies the effects of proximity to an elevated train line on school performance in children by comparing a group of children who live within one city block of an elevated train line to a matched sample of children from the same school who live at least ten blocks away from the train line on a standardized test of reading comprehension. This is an example of

A) a within-subjects design.
B) a correlational study.
C) a quasi-experiment.
D) an observational study.

Question 35

Environmental psychologists rarely record feelings and emotion in addition to observable behavior.

Question 36

Environmental psychologists often do field studies because they allow for greater experimental control.

Question 37

Calhoun's studies with rats implied that high density causes pathological behavior.

Question 38

The Munich airport study was more effective than ex post facto studies of noise because several variables, including presence of noise, were controlled during data collection.

Question 39

One important principle advocated by the American Psychological Association is the right of informed consent.

Question 40

Finding that saccharine causes cancer in laboratory mice presents an issue of variable representativeness because we cannot know whether the results generalize to humans.

Question 41

Discuss why the scientific method is viewed as the strongest method of fixing beliefs. Outline potential weaknesses or problems with the scientific method.

Question 42

Discuss the following statement: True experiments are sometimes difficult to do when dealing with issues such as the impact of the environment on behavior, but experimental research offers the best approach to understanding the causal impact of environmental variables.

Question 43

Most universities and research institutions have Institutional Review Boards that judge whether the proposed research is ethical.

Question 44

Why have many environmental psychologists begun to turn towards field studies as opposed to laboratory studies? What are the advantages and disadvantages of field studies as compared to laboratory studies?

Question 45

Sample generalization refers to how the effects of a variable generalize from one setting to another.

Question 46

Compare the results of research on crowding done with rats to the research done with non-human primates. How were the methods similar? How were they different? Suggest a follow-up experiment designed to see whether the differences in results are due to differences in the methods used.

Question 47

In the chapter, four different types of research on crowding are discussed. Describe each one briefly and state what the results of the research showed about the effects of crowding. What do these results suggest about the importance of examining the method used by a researcher before generalizing research results to a new situation?

Question 48

Define the terms sample generalization and variable representativeness and explain their importance in experimental psychology.

Question 49

All quasi-experiments are automatically equally useful.

Question 50

Describe one experiment on crowding using human or animal subjects. Identify the independent variable, the dependent variable, and the control variables, and summarize the results of the experiment. Do you think these results can be generalized to other samples? Why or why not?

Question 51

In a correlational demographic study, Evans, Palsane, Lepore, and Martin (1989) studied crowding, social withdrawal, and psychological health among residents of the city of Pune, India. Give a brief description of the method used in this study including the measures of density, social withdrawal, and psychological health. What were the results of the study? What are two possible interpretations of these results?

Question 52

Research on crowding in rats and humans nicely converge on a single interpretation.

Question 53

Variable representativeness refers to how the effects of a variable generalize from one group of individuals to another.