Psych 466 Unit 1 Exam Review

Exam 1 covers material from Bell et al. Ch. 1-4, additional readings Current Trends in Environmental

Psychology & Preference for Nature in Urbanized Societies, lectures Aug 23-Sept. 15.

Exam format will be a mix of multiple-choice, true-false, and short answer questions.

Topic 1: Why, what & how of environmental psychology

Know the definitions of environmental psychology and the fields that are related to environmental psychology.

Understand and be able to explain the historical developments in environmental psychology, including when the

term first appeared, topics that predated it, what happened in the 1970s and afterwards for establishing the field,

themes that were developed, and the current status of environmental psychology.

Understand and be able to explain the eclectic methods in environmental psychology:

-Be able to explain and identify key components of experiments, define related terms, describe the pros

and cons to this method, and explain what field experiments and simulation methods are and why/how

they are used.

-Be able to explain correlations, describe the pros and cons of this method,

-Understand and be able to explain descriptive studies, pros and cons of the method, and be able to

describe field and case studies. Why is it important to have unobtrusive measures?

Understand and be able to explain the different data collection methods, define related terms, provide examples

of each type, and discuss pros and cons of different methods.

Understand and be able to explain the ethical considerations of informed consent and invasion of privacy in

research.

Ch. 4—Understand and be able to explain behavior settings and the behavior mapping method

Topic 2: Nature & Human Nature

Be able to define and compare values and attitudes.

Be familiar with the historical changes in views of nature and the contemporary values discussed in the text.

Be able to explain the following terms: nativism, empiricism, anthropocentricism, ecocentrism, resourcism

(multiple definitions), preservationism, deep ecology, environmental justice, New Environmental Paradigm,

biophobia, and biophilia. Be able to recognize or provide examples.

Understand and be able to discuss the hate nature orientation and examples of hate nature attitudes proposed by

Leff.

Understand and be able to explain the Kaplan & Kaplan preference model, including descriptions of the

dimensions, components, and evaluation of this model.

Be able to discuss the topic of restorative environments, provide examples of restorative responses, and explain

the relationship to Attention Restoration Theory.

Be able to explain Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and discuss research evidence investigating ART.

Know what attitudes are, why we might study attitudes instead of values, the components of attitudes, how

attitudes can be learned, and factors related to the predictive value of attitudes. Understand and be able to

explain how attitudes can be measured using scales and the different types of factors studied using

environmental attitude scales.

Understand and be able to explain what Environmental assessment is, and be able to discuss the different types

of assessment scales (including EQI, PEQI, and EERIs). Be able to recognize/provide examples of ways that

PEQIs have been used to study environmental assessment. Be familiar with the dimensions/factors identified as

underlying affective assessment discussed in the text and lecture.

Topic 3: Environmental Perception & Cognition

Understand and be able to explain basics of perception (Sensation vs. perception, bottom-up, top-down, gestalt,

etc.)

Understand and be able explain topics related to the study of constancy & change in environmental perception.

Be able to explain and compare constructivism and nativism views of perception.

Understand and be able to describe and compare the two explanation of environmental perception discussed in

lecture and the text. You should know and be able to define related terms/ concepts.

Probabilism- Brunswick’s lens model

Ecological perception

Be able to define environmental cognition and explain what this topic includes.

Understand and be able to explain what cognitive maps are and be able to discuss important people in the

history of cognitive maps, methods used to study cognitive maps and limits to the methods.

Understand and be able to describe the categories of features & common errors in cognitive maps according to

Lynch.

Know what cognitive mapping includes.

Understand and be able to explain the different types of spatial knowledge discussed in lecture.

Know the different views on how we develop cognitive maps.

Be able to discuss differences in cognitive mapping, including age and gender differences.

Be able to define orientation & wayfinding, and discuss the various steps in wayfinding.

Understand and be able to explain the evidence supporting importance of transition points in wayfinding.

Be able to discuss ways to assist cognitive maps & wayfinding.

Understand and be able to describe ways to improving YAH maps.

Topic 4: Theories of Environment-Behavior Relationships

Understand and be able to discuss explanations, the nature of theory, and theory integration in environmental

psychology

*For all theories, you should be able to provide a basic description, definitions of related terms, and overall

evaluation of each perspective.

Be able to describe Stimulation theories.

Understand and be able to explain the Arousal perspective. You should be able to draw a graph demonstrating

the Yerkes-Dodson law and explain this in relation to task performance for both easy and complex tasks.

Understand and be able to describe Environmental Load (overstimulation) perspective, the relationship to

attention and information processing concepts, what overload involves and the aftereffects and costs of

recovering from overload.

Understand and be able to explain Understimulation (sensory deprivation) perspective, possible negative impact

of restricted stimulation, and issues with methods studying sensory deprivation.

Understand and be able to explain Optimal stimulation (adaptation level theory) perspective, how it is applied to

sensory stimulation, social stimulation & movement, and the dimensions of variation. Be able to explain the

difference between adaptation and adjustment. Understand the relationship of optimal levels to experience.

Understand and be able to explain the Environmental Stress Model, including definitions of related terms and

the components of stress reactions. Be able to explain the difference between acute and background stressors,

and be able to classify and identify/provide examples of cataclysmic events, personal stressors, ambient

stressors, and daily hassles. Be able to discuss issues discovered in research into impacts of stress. Be able to

discuss the topic of seeking exciting environments.

Understand and be able to understand control theories, specifically behavior constraint theory. Be able to

discuss how we may react to loss of perceived control, the development of learned helplessness, and the impact

of increasing perceived control.

Understand and be able to discuss Barker’s Ecological psychology, behavior settings, staffing levels, and how

this can be used to study social group behavior in context.