Deck 19: Applying Social Psychology to the Environment

Question 1

The tendency for shared or jointly owned resources to be wasted, or used in a less-than-optimal way, is known as ____.

A) the bystander effect
B) social loafing
C) the commons dilemma
D) the bad apple effect

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Worldwide, about _____ people die every day from hunger- or malnutrition-related diseases every day.

A) 5,000
B) 12,000
C) 18,000
D) 25,000

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The most common occupational disease in the United States is ____.

A) stress-induced ulcers
B) noise-induced hearing loss
C) musculoskeletal disorders
D) toxicity from chemical exposures

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Humans obtain approximately ____% of their energy from nonrenewable, nonsustainable resources such as oil, coal, and gas.

A) 30
B) 50
C) 70
D) 90

Question 5

After a badly rusted storage tank leaked into the river that supplies drinking water for a large region, the owners of the tank deliberately withhold information about the chemicals that had been stored in the tank. This is best described as the ____ trap.

A) missing-hero
B) missing-information
C) missing-integrity
D) missing-regulation

Question 6

In terms of personal space, the typical social distance is ____.

A) less than 1 foot
B) 1 to 2 feet
C) 2 to 4 feet
D) 4 to 12 feet

Question 7

____ territories are open to anyone who is not specifically excluded.

A) Open
B) Universal
C) Public
D) Free

Question 8

Which of the following is an example of a secondary territory?

A) Your bedroom
B) The seat you always sit in during English class
C) A seat at a movie theater
D) A public library

Question 9

At what age does awareness of personal space boundaries usually begin?

A) one year
B) two years
C) four years
D) ten years

Question 10

The main distinction between the terms crowding and density is that crowding refers to ____, while density refers to ____.

A) concentration of people; concentration of any physical objects
B) a subjective feeling; a physical reality
C) a neutral or positively-experienced concentration of people; a negatively-experienced concentration of people
D) situations over which people perceive that they have control; situations over which people do NOT perceive that they have control

Question 11

The subjective feeling that there are too many people in a given space is called ____.

A) density
B) pressure
C) push
D) crowding

Question 12

Jada knows that the lobby of her office is extremely crowded between 11:45 and 1:15 when people are going to lunch or picking up lunch orders. Although Jada hates crowds, simply knowing when the lobby is crowded increases her sense of ____ control.

A) affective
B) cognitive
C) behavioral
D) interpersonal

Question 13

People are less likely to engage in the commons dilemma when ____.

A) they communicate with others
B) others are behaving badly
C) they are anonymous
D) they are highly self-interested

Question 14

A teenager riding in the backseat of a car watches someone throw a match onto a hillside. The fire will not be detected by local authorities for several hours, at which point acres and acres of land will have been scorched. The teenager, having not reported what he saw to anyone, apparently fell into the social trap known as ____.

A) the individual good-collective bad trap
B) the one-person trap
C) the missing hero trap
D) the secret buddy trap

Question 15

Worldwide, the population increases by about ____ million people annually.

A) 60
B) 70
C) 80
D) 90

Question 16

Personalization-for example putting up pictures and cartoons in one's cubicle at work-is an example of ____.

A) marking one's territory
B) establishing one's personal space
C) claiming one's public space
D) planned obsolescence

Question 17

Which of the following is the best example of the one-person trap?

A) Excessive consumption of limited energy resources
B) Overeating
C) Drunk driving
D) Failing to report a witness in a murder

Question 18

The concepts of sensory overload and cognitive control are related to crowding in that sensory overload tends to ____ crowding and cognitive control tends to ____ crowding.

A) accompany; inhibit the experience of
B) accompany; also accompany
C) inhibit the experience of; also inhibit the experience of
D) inhibit the experience of; accompany

Question 19

One of the key barriers to solving environmental problems such as overpopulation and global warming is ____.

A) rule of law
B) the fundamental attribution error
C) sensory overload
D) the commons dilemma

Question 20

Suppose that you and your four roommates decide to get a dog. Unfortunately, you are all fairly selfish with your time; no one takes responsibility for the dog, and no one communicates about the dog's needs. As a result, the dog rarely gets fed, only goes on walks occasionally, and has never once made it to the vet. In short, he is neglected, and he ultimately ends up costing you thousands of dollars in emergency room bills (which could have been avoided had you taken him to the vet early on). Social psychologists would say that the dog is a victim of ____.

A) the commons dilemma
B) overpersonalization
C) the rule of law
D) confirmation bias

Question 21

Research suggests that the major components of air pollution affect the health of ____ people in the United States.

A) a small minority of
B) a large minority of
C) most
D) all

Question 22

Which symptom is NOT a typical indicator of post-traumatic stress disorder?

A) uncontrollable thoughts about a traumatic event
B) mania/hyperactivity
C) sleep disturbances
D) social withdrawal

Question 23

Of the following approaches to encouraging people to conserve water and energy, which has been most effective?

A) Education
B) Prompts
C) Simple reasoning
D) Having people make public commitments

Question 24

In the study about how to encourage hotel guests to reuse their towels thereby promoting conservation, which type of message was the most effective?

A) one that simply provided a general environmental focus
B) one that invited guests to "partner" with the hotel to protect the environment
C) one that invoked the norm of reciprocity by noting that the hotel was doing its part to protect the environment and inviting the guest to do his or her part
D) one that clearly portrayed environmental damage with photos of decimated landscape

Question 25

Suppose that you are a ninth grade teacher, and you are trying to get your students to conserve more water and energy in their daily lives. Which of the following approaches is likely to be least successful?

A) Educate them about the need for conservation.
B) Make use of prompts, or reminders, at times when they tend to be wasteful.
C) Have them make public commitments to their parents that they will be less wasteful.
D) Have them make public commitments to their peers that they will be less wasteful.

Question 26

According to social psychological research, which of the following is NOT a particularly effective way to shift people's attitudes and behaviors regarding the environment?

A) Provide people with feedback about their impact on the environment.
B) Make people's environment-related behaviors public.
C) Focus on specific actions rather than general or abstract behaviors.
D) Make nonemotional appeals to general attitudes in the public.

Question 27

The term ambient environment refers to the ____.

A) auditory environment (i.e., what we hear)
B) sensory environment in general (i.e., what we hear, see, feel, smell, etc.)
C) environment at a given instant in time
D) "vibe" or "mood" that one feels in one's environment

Question 28

Research suggests that ____ can negatively impact employee work performance.

A) climate and noise (but not pollution)
B) noise (but not climate or pollution)
C) pollution and noise (but not climate)
D) climate, pollution, and noise

Question 29

Confronting people with the inconsistency between their attitudes and behaviors is a strategy for promoting behavior change known as ____.

A) scarcity manipulation
B) cognitive control
C) hypocrisy induction
D) the one-person trap

Question 30

Air pollution is the ____ leading cause of mortality worldwide.

A) 9th
B) 11th
C) 13th
D) 15th

Question 31

Suppose that you are a ninth grade teacher, and you are trying to get your students to conserve more water and energy in their daily lives. Which of the following approaches is likely to be most successful?

A) Educate them about the need for conservation.
B) Make use of prompts, or reminders, at times when they tend to be wasteful.
C) Tell them that you conserve energy and water.
D) Have them make public commitments to their peers that they will be less wasteful.

Question 32

A high-context culture is ____ than a low-context culture.

A) more territorial
B) less territorial
C) less tied to nature
D) more concerned about security