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Validation Study of a Virtual Laboratory for Research in Environmental Psychology

The aim of this study was to validate the use of a virtual environment (VE) for psychological research. A study made by Maslow and Mintz (1956) in which they found that a room’s aesthetic affects how participants estimate pictures of people was replicated using a VE. A picture of a beautiful room and a picture of an ugly room were projected on an angled screen measuring 185 cm in height and 405 cm in width as to attempt to replicate the effect found in the original study. A total of 31 participants were tested in either the beautiful or the ugly environment. A t-test revealed no significant difference between the groups on the total score given on the pictures. However, a mixed-model ANOVA revealed several significant differences and interaction effects. The results of this study suggest that VE’s could be valid for psychological research, in particular environmental psychological experiments, but that more investigations are needed in order to understand this instrument better.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:miun-13267
Date January 2010
CreatorsLarsson, Marie-France
PublisherMittuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsvetenskap
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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