Environmental Psychology - Topic 2

Question 1

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

Answer 1

lack of concentration, memory impairment

no motivation or energy

Question 2

What is a circadian rhythm?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What is melatonin?

Answer 3

hormone that makes you feel drowsy and tired

Question 4

What is R.E.M sleep?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What is non-R.E.M sleep?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

What is a zeitgeber?

Answer 6

external cue such as light which influence internal biological rhythms

Question 7

What is phase advance?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What is the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN)?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is phase delay?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What is a phase response curve?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What triggers a melatonin release?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is an ultradian rhythm?

Answer 12

biological changes that occur in cycles of less than 24 hours

Question 13

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

Answer 13

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

Question 14

What are the physiological benefits of sleep?

Answer 14

muscles repair
blood pressure drops
decreased heart rate

Question 15

What are the psychological benefits of sleep?

Answer 15

release of serotonin
improved mood
better concentration

Question 16

What happened to Peter Tripp?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

How can shift work interrupt/disrupt circadian rhythms?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

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

Answer 18

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

Question 19

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

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Why is phase delay easier than phase advance?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What was the aim of Czeisler’s study?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What was the sample used by Czeisler?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

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

Answer 23

self report

experiment

Question 24

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

Answer 24

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

Question 25

What did the questionnaires find out before the new schedules?

Answer 25

29% of workers were falling asleep at work

Question 26

State 3 results that Czeisler’s study found?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What was the main conclusion from Czeisler’s study?

Answer 27

that phase delay minimised negativity and increased productivity

Question 28

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

Answer 28

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

Question 29

How ethical is natural light therapy?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Will natural light therapy work for everyone?

Answer 30

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

Question 31

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

Answer 31

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

Question 32

How ethical is avoiding shifts starting at this time?

Answer 32

more ethical

employee’s sleep patterns will be less interrupted

Question 33

Will avoiding these shift times work for everyone?

Answer 33

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