Environmental Psychology - Topic 2 Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Environmental Psychology - Topic 2 Deck (33)
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1
Q

What impacts can shift work have on your cognitions and behaviour?

A

lack of concentration, memory impairment

no motivation or energy

2
Q

What is a circadian rhythm?

A

changes that occur on a 24 cycle (e.g. sleep wake cycle)

3
Q

What is melatonin?

A

hormone that makes you feel drowsy and tired

4
Q

What is R.E.M sleep?

A

sleep that occurs at intervals, rapid eye movements, more dreaming, faster breathing and pulse

5
Q

What is non-R.E.M sleep?

A

dreamless sleep, slow brainwaves, regular breathing and heart rate, sleep is still

6
Q

What is a zeitgeber?

A

external cue such as light which influence internal biological rhythms

7
Q

What is phase advance?

A

a forward shift in the sleep/wake cycle, when a person brings forward when they go to sleep

8
Q

What is the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?

A

part of the brain involved in controlling circadian rhythms, acts as internal clock

9
Q

What is phase delay?

A

a backward shift in the sleep/wake cycle, when a person holds back when the go to sleep

10
Q

What is a phase response curve?

A

curve describing the relationship between stimuli and responses, such as light exposure and shift in circadian rhythms

11
Q

What triggers a melatonin release?

A

sunlight is received by your eyes , the SCN receives this cue and makes sense of it, this activates hormones such as melatonin to release

12
Q

What is an ultradian rhythm?

A

biological changes that occur in cycles of less than 24 hours

13
Q

What are the 5 stages of sleep? and what are their key features?

A

one -> reduction in heart rate, muscle tension and temperature
two -> brain waves are slow and large, easy to be woken
three -> long slow waves, deeper sleep
four -> little muscular activity, temp drops, night terrors, hard to wake
REM -> active brain, body paralysis, hard to wake

14
Q

What are the physiological benefits of sleep?

A

muscles repair
blood pressure drops
decreased heart rate

15
Q

What are the psychological benefits of sleep?

A

release of serotonin
improved mood
better concentration

16
Q

What happened to Peter Tripp?

A
stayed awake for 11 days
issues with concentration
paranoia and hallucination
delusions
when asked to subtract 7 from 100 repeatedly, he stopped at 65 and said he forgot the task
17
Q

How can shift work interrupt/disrupt circadian rhythms?

A

when working night shifts, melatonin could be released due to lack of daylight which could cause drowsiness

18
Q

What happens to our biological rhythms when travelling East to West?

A

phase delay
have to stay up later to travel to time zones behind our own
suppress melatonin

19
Q

What happens to our biological rhythms when travelling West to East?

A

phase advance
have to try to make yourself sleep earlier
body tries to release melatonin early

20
Q

Why is phase delay easier than phase advance?

A

because you can conserve melatonin to help it to be released later, but our bodies are not able to automatically produce melatonin without zeitgebers

21
Q

What was the aim of Czeisler’s study?

A

investigate the effects of shift work on circadian rhythms, looking at direction and intervals of shift patterns

22
Q

What was the sample used by Czeisler?

A

83 males aged 19-68 on rotating shifts
68 males aged 19-86 on non-rotating shifts
Great Salt Lake Cooperation in Utah

23
Q

What 2 research methods were used in Czeisler’s study?

A

self report

experiment

24
Q

What self report method did Czeisler use? when was it used? what was the response rate?

A

questionnaires measuring satisfaction, health and productivity
before and after the new schedules were introduced
84% of sample completed

25
Q

What did the questionnaires find out before the new schedules?

A

29% of workers were falling asleep at work

26
Q

State 3 results that Czeisler’s study found?

A

when using a 21 day rotation complaints dropped from 90%-20%
81% said it only took 2-4 days to adjust to the new schedule
only 26% weren’t able to adjust

27
Q

What was the main conclusion from Czeisler’s study?

A

that phase delay minimised negativity and increased productivity

28
Q

What is one strategy to reduce the effects of jet lag?

A

natural light therapy - exposing your eyes to light at different times can help your CR shift (wearing sunglasses to help release melatonin)

29
Q

How ethical is natural light therapy?

A

very as its something you can do yourself and its your choice

30
Q

Will natural light therapy work for everyone?

A

won’t work for people with sight difficulties as they can’t tell the difference between light and dark as easily

31
Q

What is one strategy to reduce the effects of shift work?

A

avoid shifts starting at 5/6am - by starting this early, melatonin is still in its 12 hour release period so will make you more tired

32
Q

How ethical is avoiding shifts starting at this time?

A

more ethical

employee’s sleep patterns will be less interrupted

33
Q

Will avoiding these shift times work for everyone?

A

won’t work for people with irregular shifts such as emergency services as they may have to start at this time