INSTRUCTIONS: FOR THE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS, BOLD OR HIGHLIGHT YOUR CHOICE OF THE CORRECT ALTERNATIVE. FOR THE ESSAY QUESTIONS, ANSWER THE TWO QUESTIONS INDICATED IN BOLD – PLEASE INSERT A PAGE BREAK BETWEEN THE TWO ANSWERS. =====================================================================
1. Ittelson proposed four components to environmental perception. These components were:
a. structure, function, utility, and complexity
b. line, form, color, and texture
c. cognitive, affective, interpretive, and evaluative
d. complexity, mystery, convergence, and enframement
2. The descriptive approach to environmental assessments incorporates artistic and architectural principles of line, form, color, and texture. This view also believes that “dominance principles” influence our perceptions, as well. Which one of the following is one of these dominance principles?
a. arousal
b. mystery
c. enframement
d. overstimulation
3. If you were to draw a cognitive map of the city or town in which you live, and you mentally move through the environment, drawing what you “see” in your memory, then this pattern suggests that your map is stored in memory in which way?
a. proportional
b. adaptational
c. imaginal
d. propositional
4. Cognitive maps with the most detail typically are drawn by those who:
a. usually walk through the environment
b. usually drive through the environment in private cars
c. usually take public transportation through the environment
d. are relatively new to the environment, as they tend to pay greater attention to the details
5. Newcomers to areas typically begin their cognitive maps with which feature?
a. limits
b. paths
c. districts
d. landmarks
6. A researcher has a digital recording of construction sounds – hammers, cement mixers, drills, and jackhammers. A sample of 100 college students is randomly divided into two groups and placed in identical rooms located at different ends of the same building on a college campus. This recording is played at 50 dB (a measure of sound intensity) to those in one room while they perform a proofreading task. At the same time, the recording is played at a more intense sound level (75 dB) to the other group, while they do the same proofreading task. The number of errors made by these two groups of students is compared statistically. What research method did this researcher use to study the effects of noise on this cognitive task?
a. an experimental method
b. a quasi-experimental (ex post facto) method
c. a correlational method
d. an accretion method
7. The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a great deal of stress for many people for a number of reasons. Clinical psychologists have predicted that the mental health of people living in the various “hotspots” of the virus, such as New York/New Jersey, Michigan, and Washington state, will be more severely impacted than those living in areas with fewer cases. Once the various locales become fully “open” for business again, researchers will analyze public hospital records in these two areas (“hotspots” and less-affected areas) to compare whether or not there was more anti-anxiety medications prescribed in the “hotspots” than the less-affected regions of the country. This research method, commonly used in the study of environmental and health-related stressors, where researchers analyze differences after the occurrence of some major event, is best described as:
a. experimental
b. quasi-experimental
c. contrived
d. random
8. In environmental psychology, some indirect measures are used to study how some environments are used. For example, the amount of carpet wear in an art museum might be used to indicate which parts of the museum were the most popular. Which kind of indirect measure is this?
a. erosion measure
b. accretion measure
c. green justice measure
d. deep ecology measure
9. You have recently opened “Coin Museums” in major tourist cities around the world. In these museums, you and the curators display historic and current coins from countries around the world in glass cases. You suspect (hypothesize) that the most interest would be directed towards coins that originated from the country in which the museum is located. You try to assess this by measuring how dirty the glass cases are after each week that the museum has been open. This kind of measure is called a(n):
a. accretion measure
b. erosion measure
c. corrosion measure
d. DNA fingerprinting
10. Psychologists doing experimental research in most areas of psychology seek to control the environmental variables present in the laboratory. In contrast, environmental psychologists doing experimental research view these environmental variables as potential:
a. independent variables
b. dependent variables
c. participant (subject) variables
d. undefined variables
11. People’s attraction to natural things and natural environments has been termed (by Wilson) as:
a. biophilia
b. biophobia
c. bioecology
d. bionaturalism
12. Actual behavior is likely to match one’s attitudes the more specific the attitude. Which one of the following is the best example of a specific attitude?
a. Save the Planet!
b. Recycle!
c. Preserve Biodiversity!
d. Littering is Criminal – Do Not Litter!
13. Wayfinding is enhanced when:
a. environments are high in legibility
b. environments are low in complexity
c. environments are high in mystery
d. buildings in environments have the same style of architecture, i.e., high in coherence
14. In their study of wayfinding in the Toledo Museum of Art, Talbot et al. (1993) found that researchers and museum staff differed in their ideas about the maps distributed to the public. One such difference was:
a. researchers thought all exits ought to be depicted, whereas staff thought only gallery entrances needed to be on the maps
b. researchers thought the parking lot needed to be marked clearly on the maps, whereas staff did not think this was important
c. researchers thought 4-color maps would be most useful, whereas staff thought black and white maps would be more effective
d. researchers wanted to make the maps as simple as possible, whereas the staff wanted a lot of detail about the exhibits and the building
15. “You are Here” maps can be used more effectively if:
a. the map is oriented parallel to the ground as opposed to held vertically in front of a person
b. the map has labels placed on the roofs of the buildings depicted on the maps
c. the map has labels that match labels on nearby buildings
d. the map uses a circle or star to indicate where one is, rather than a square or other polygon
16. The Yerkes-Dodson Law and arousal theory predict that performance will be best at what level of arousal?
a. low
b. moderate
c. high
d. when low OR high, but not moderate
17. A major tenet or principle of the environmental overload theory is that:
a. people have unlimited attention, but have difficulty focusing that attention on any one variable, condition, or situation
b. all individuals are overloaded, but each person seeks their own optimal level of overload
c. the point at which overload occurs is easily predictable and measureable
d. people have a finite amount of attention, and that stimuli in the environment compete for that attention
18. The high rate of accidents caused when people use cell phones (or are otherwise distracted) while driving is best explained by which theoretical approach?
a. arousal theory
b. understimulation theory
c. optimal level theory
d. overload theory
19. Understimulation theory posits that people will act on the environment to increase their level of stimulation when the environment is bland, boring, or routine. This theory accounts well for behaviors such as:
a. juvenile delinquency, truancy, and minor crimes against property
b. mob behavior (e.g., riots, social protests)
c. homelessness
d. depression
20. According to the behavior constraint theory, psychological reactance refers to one’s attempt to:
a. find one’s way in an unfamiliar environment
b. increase social stimulation while decreasing physical (environmental) stimulation
c. vary one’s arousal level to meet the conditions in some particular environment
d. gain control of events in one’s environment
21. According to Barker’s Ecological Psychology view, when certain settings are understaffed, those seeking services in those settings feel:
a. constraint
b. depression
c. crowded
d. boredom (underarousal)
22. According to Whyte, the most important factor contributing to the success of urban plazas is:
a. amount of direct sunlight
b. presence of security officers, whether public or private
c. being different from street level, either raised above the street or lowered below the street
d. the amount of sitting space
23. According to Whyte and his team of observers, interactions between people are most likely to occur:
a. in the center of large plazas
b. on busy street corners
c. on east-west corridors rather than north-south corridors
d. in the back recesses of small, public parks
24. Whyte believed that if water were present in a city plaza,
a. barriers should be constructed around the water so that accidents would not occur
b. ledges surrounding the water should contain spikes or rocks to prevent people from sitting where they might get wet
c. people should be encouraged to contact and interact with the water
d. that cities needed to regulate how much water flowed and the chemicals in the water needed to be checked monthly to ensure health
25. Sociopetal designs:
a. foster or facilitate social interactions
b. hinder or inhibit social interactions
c. can be accomplished in private homes but not in institutions such as hospitals
d. are preferred by women, but not by men
26. In built environments, the locations of fixed features:
a. can be changed easily, adding flexibility to an environment
b. often determine the locations of semi-fixed features, in turn, limiting behavioral options
c. facilitate learning, such as in classrooms, where students learn best when sitting in fixed seating arranged in rows and facing forward
d. have been found to have no bearing on any other aspects of that environment, including behavioral freedom
27. Soft architecture is the term used to describe objects intended:
a. to be easily maintained
b. to last many years
c. to be useful to a variety of users
d. to be low in cost
28. Social interactions might be hindered or limited, such as in the day room of the Saskatchewan hospital (as studied by Sommer), when:
a. staff were present during the day to monitor the residents’ use of semi-fixed features
b. magazines were outdated, as is common in many waiting areas
c. visitors re-arranged the furniture in the room
d. semi-fixed features were treated as if they were fixed features
29. A major goal of the design process is congruence. This refers to:
a. how well the colors of the different rooms blend together to give an overall impression
b. how well the different residents on a street fit together in terms of interests, age, and other aspects of similarity
c. how well the users’ needs and preferences match with the design features of the setting
d. how well the post-occupancy evaluation scores match the pre-occupancy evaluation scores
30. With respect to the design process, “THE GAP” (also called the user-needs gap) refers to differences between:
a. designers (architects) and users of the finished product
b. designers (architects) and engineers
c. designers (architects) and budget analysts
d. the managers or owners of the environments and the users of the environments
ESSAY QUESTIONS APPEAR ON THE NEXT PAGE – THE TWO TO ANSWER ARE INDICATED IN RED AND BOLD PRINT.
ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. The descriptive approach to environmental perception involves the application of architectural/artistic dominance principles, while the psychological approach of Kaplan and Kaplan focuses on four dimensions that are, obviously, more psychological in nature. Describe either (a) the architectural/artistic principles, with examples, indicating how these features influence environmental perception, or (b) the 4 aspects of an environment that the Kaplans believe contribute to its being liked (and include an example of each, please).
2. With respect to wayfinding and “you are here” (YAH) maps, describe (a) why wayfinding is important, and (b) the two major principles needed for useful YAH maps, including the relevance of the two-point theorem. Indicate, in your answer, the ways in which this two-point theorem should be incorporated into these maps. Feel free to insert pictures (photos) or diagrams, if desired, to supplement the text of your answers.
3. As an environmental psychologist, you are interested in studying the relationship between temperature levels in a classroom and how much space students keep between themselves and others when choosing seats in a large lecture hall; thus, the dependent variable is interpersonal distance, which can be measured in actual distance units or number of seats between themselves and others if the lecture hall has fixed seats, like the typical movie theater. Describe how this environment-behavior situation could be studied via TWO of the following three research methodologies: experimental study, a quasi-experimental (or ex post facto) study, and/or a correlational study. Feel free to create whatever conditions are necessary to address the question. (Note – this question refers to non-pandemic times!)
4. The work of William H. Whyte has been influential to environmental psychologists in their study of environment-behavior interrelationships. Whyte was concerned with the variables that contribute to public spaces actually being used. With this in mind, address the following, including descriptions/examples of the relationship between environmental features and behavior:
a. The relevance of the statement that, “People tend to sit where there are places to sit.”
b. The contribution of three of the following to the use of public spaces: Street, sun, food, water, trees, and/or triangulation. Provide examples of descriptions of these contributing variables.
5. With respect to the design and use of built environments, many factors can influence the behavior that occurs within that space. In this regard, differentiate between the following, and provide relevant examples:
a. fixed and semi-fixed features
b. sociofugal and sociopetal space/designs