Psychology Test - 13

The correct answer is Environmental psychology.

Key Points

• A common idea that comes out of these questions is that the relationship between human behaviour and the environment plays a special role in our lives. 
• A branch of psychology called environmental psychology deals with various psychological issues pertaining to the human-environment interaction in a very broad sense of the term. 
• The word ‘environment’ refers to all that is around us, literally everything that surrounds us, including the physical, social, work, and cultural environment.
• In general, it includes all the forces outside human beings to which they respond in some way. In the present section, the discussion will centre around the physical environment.
• ‘Ecology’ is the study of the relationships between living beings and their environment.
• In psychology, the focus is on the interdependence between the environment and people, as the environment becomes meaningful with reference to the human beings who live in it.
• In this context, a distinction can be made between the natural environment and the built environment. 

The correct answer is Human-environment relationship.

Key Points

• Word ‘environment’ refers to all that is around us. Literally, it means everything that surrounds us including the physical, social world, and cultural environment.
• In general, it includes all the forces outside the human beings to which they respond in some way.
• A psychologist named Stokols proposed three approaches to describe the human-environment relationship:
• The Minimalist Perspective: This view assumes that the physical environment has negligible influence on human behavior. Both run parallel to each other.
• The Instrumental Perspective: According to this approach, the environment is simply a provider. It is for our comfort of us. Human beings can use the environment as per their needs.
• The Spiritual Perspective: It refers to the view of the environment as something to be respected and valued rather than exploited. The physical environment and human relationships are interdependent. The traditional Indian view about the environment supports a spiritual perspective, worshipping Pipal, respect for rivers and mountains. 
• Chipko Aandolan and movement by Bishnoi Community are examples of the Indian perspective.

The correct answer is Instrumental perspective.

Key Points

• Word ‘environment’ refers to all that is around us. Literally, it means everything that surrounds us including the physical, social world, and cultural environment. In general, it includes all the forces outside the human beings to which they respond in some way. A psychologist named Stokols proposed three approaches to describe the human-environment relationship:
• The Minimalist Perspective: This view assumes that the physical environment has negligible influence on human behavior. Both run parallel to each other.
• The Instrumental Perspective: According to this approach, the environment is simply a provider. It is for our comfort of us. Human beings can use the environment as per their needs.
• The Spiritual Perspective: It refers to the view of the environment as something to be respected and valued rather than exploited. The physical environment and human relationships are interdependent. The traditional Indian view about the environment supports a spiritual perspective, worshipping Pipal, respect for rivers and mountains. Chipko Aandolan and movement by Bishnoi Community are examples of the Indian perspective.

The correct answer is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Key Points

​Environmental influences on emotions :

• The environment affects our emotional reactions as well.
• Watching nature in any form, whether it is a quietly flowing river, a smiling flower, or a tranquil mountain top, provides a kind of joy that cannot be matched by any other experience.
• Natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, landslides, quakes on the earth or under the ocean, can affect people’s emotions to such an extent that they experience deep depression and sorrow, a sense of complete helplessness and lack of control over their lives.
• Such an influence on human emotions is a traumatic experience that changes people’s lives forever, and can last for a very long time after the actual event in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The correct answer is Both 1 and 2.

Key Points

• Three characteristics of noise have been found to determine its effect on task performance, namely, intensity, predictability, and controllability of noise.

Systematic research on the effects of noise on human beings shows the following :

• When the task being performed is a simple mental task, such as addition of numbers, noise does not affect overall performance, whether it is loud or soft. In such situations, people adapt, or ‘get used’ to noise. 
• If the task being performed is very interesting, then, too, the presence of noise does not affect performance. This is because the nature of the task helps the individual to pay full attention to the task, and ignore the noise. This may also be one kind of adaptation.
• When the task being performed is difficult, or requires full concentration, then intense, unpredictable, and uncontrollable noise reduces the level of task performance.

The correct answer is Personal distance - 18 inches to 2 feet.

Key Points

• In social situations, human beings like to maintain a certain physical distance from the person with whom they are interacting. This is called interpersonal physical distance, and is a part of a broader concept called personal space, i.e. the physical space we like to have all around us.
• One reason for the negative reactions to crowding, as described earlier, is the decrease in personal space.
• Personal space can vary between people, between situations and settings, and between cultures. Some average distances have been observed in certain cultures.

Edward Hall, an anthropologist, mentioned four kinds of interpersonal physical distance, depending on the situation: 

• Intimate distance (upto 18 inches): The distance you maintain when you are talking privately to someone, or interacting with a very close friend or relative.
• Personal distance (18 inches to 4 feet): The distance you maintain when you are interacting one-to-one with a close friend, relative, or even with someone not very close to you in a work setting or other social situation.
• Social distance (4 to 10 feet): The distance you maintain when the interaction is formal, and not close.
• Public distance (10 feet to infinity): The distance you maintain in a formal setting, where there is a large number of persons. For example, the distance of an audience from a public speaker, or a teacher in a classroom.

The correct answer is ​Cognitive reaction.

Key Points

• Natural disasters are traumatic experiences, i.e. emotionally wounding and shocking to those who survive the disaster. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychological problem that results from traumatic events such as natural disasters.
• This disorder has the following features.
• The immediate reaction to a disaster is commonly one of disorientation.
• People take some time to understand the full meaning of what the disaster has done to them.
• They may actually deny to themselves that something terrible has happened.

Following the immediate reaction are the physical reactions.

• Physical reactions, such as bodily exhaustion even without physical activity, difficulty in sleeping, change in the eating pattern, increased heartbeat and blood pressure, and getting startled easily can be found among the victims.
• Emotional reactions, such as grief and fear, irritability, anger (“Why should this happen to me?”), helplessness, hopelessness (“I could do nothing to prevent this event”), depression, sometimes absolute lack of emotion (numbness), guilt feelings for having survived while someone else in the family died, blaming oneself, and lack of interest in even routine activities.
• Cognitive reactions, such as worry, difficulty in concentration, reduced span of attention, confusion, loss of memory, or vivid memories that are unwanted (or nightmares of the event).
• Social reactions, such as withdrawal from others, getting into conflict with others, having frequent arguments with even loved ones, and feeling rejected or left out. Surprisingly, very often, in the midst of severe emotional reactions to stress, some survivors may actually help in the healing processes. Having been through the experience, yet survived it and staying alive, these persons may develop a positive outlook on life and, with empathy, pass on this attitude to other survivors

The correct answer is Aggression.

Key Points

Aggression, Violence and Peace

• Aggression and violence are among the major problems in today’s society, and they cover a wide range of behaviours — from ragging of newcomers in educational institutes, through child abuse, domestic violence, murder and rape, to riots and terrorist attacks.
• Psychologists use the term ‘aggression’ to refer to any behaviour by one person/ persons that is intended to cause harm to another person/persons.
• It can be demonstrated in actual action or through the use of harsh words or criticism, or even hostile feelings against others.
• Forceful destructive behaviour towards another person or object is described as violence.
• Some psychologists distinguish aggression from violence by pointing out that aggressive behaviour involves the intention to harm or injure another person, whereas violence may or may not involve such an intention.
• For example, burning buses or other public property during a riot is called violence as well as aggression.
• But, suppose you see a person kicking a motorbike violently.
• Her/his intention may be only to start the vehicle and, therefore, this act will not be considered a case of aggression.
• On the other hand, the person may also perform the violent act in order to damage the vehicle, because it belongs to a person s/he dislikes.
• In this case, because harm was intended, the act would be called a case of aggression.
• A distinction is also made between instrumental aggression and hostile aggression.
• In instrumental aggression, the act of aggression is meant to obtain a certain goal or object. For example, a bully slaps a new student in school so that s/he can snatch the newcomer’s chocolate.
• Hostile aggression is that which is shown as an expression of anger towards the target, with the intention of harming her/ him, even if the aggressor does not wish to obtain anything from the victim.
• For example, a criminal may beat up a person in the community for mentioning his name to the police.

The correct answer is Displacement.

Key Points

Aggression, Violence and Peace

• Aggression and violence are among the major problems in today’s society, and they cover a wide range of behaviours — from ragging of newcomers in educational institutes, through child abuse, domestic violence, murder and rape, to riots and terrorist attacks.
• Psychologists use the term ‘aggression’ to refer to any behaviour by one person/ persons that is intended to cause harm to another person/persons.

Some of these situational factors that may lead to aggression are described below.

• Learning: Among human beings, aggression is largely the result of learning rather than an expression of an inborn tendency. Learning of aggression can take place in more than one mode. Individuals may exhibit aggression because they have found it rewarding (for example, hostile aggression allows the aggressive person to get what s/he wants). This would be a case of learning through direct reinforcement. Individuals also learn to be aggressive by observing others showing aggression. This is a case of learning through modelling.
• Observing an aggressive model: Many research studies conducted by psychologists such as Albert Bandura and his collaborators show the role of modelling in learning aggression. If a child observes aggression and violence on television, s/he may start imitating that behaviour. 
• Anger-provoking action by others: If a person watches a movie that shows violence, and is then made to feel angry (for example, through insults or threats, physical aggression, or dishonesty) by another person, s/he may be more likely to show aggression than if s/he is not made to feel angry.
• Availability of weapons of aggression: Some researchers have found that observing violence leads to a greater likelihood of aggression on the part of the observer only if weapons of aggression like a stick, pistol or knife are easily available.
• Personality factors: When interacting with people we notice that some of them seem to be ‘naturally’ more hottempered, and show more aggression than others. 
• Cultural factors: The culture in which one grows up can teach its members to be aggressive or not by encouraging and praising aggressive behaviour, or discouraging and criticising such behaviour. Some tribal communities are traditionally peace-loving, whereas others see aggression as necessary for survival. 

The correct answer is 1, 2 and 3 only. 

Key Points

Health

• Our understanding about health and wellbeing has undergone a major change in recent times.
• It is now conceded that various health outcomes are not only a function of disease but the way we think and behave.
• This finds reflection in the definition of ‘health’ provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which includes biological, psychological and social aspects of health.
• It focuses not only on physical but also on mental and spiritual aspects of health.
• One may be suffering from a physically disabling disease but may be quite healthy otherwise. You may recall the names of Baba Amte or Stephen Hawkins, both of whom suffer from crippling diseases but have made great contributions in their fields.