Predicted and Observed Activity Patterns in Campus Settings

Abstract

In this study a time-sharing computer was used to obtain student predictions of the behavioral activities of others in familiar campus settings. Results were then compared with actual on-site observations of the same activities. Students accurately predicted the relative frequencies of different activities but overestimated absolute frequencies. Since predictions and observations were linearly related, however, it is possible to secure accurate behavioral information without incurring the procedural costs associated with direct observation.

Overflow, first-sight, and vanishing point distances in visual imagery.

“…A number of studies suggest that the memory of a specific perceptual episode may already contain metric information (see also Tulving, 1972Tulving, , 1983. Undergraduates are extremely accurate in estimating from memory a variety of stimulus attributes in their familiar environment, including the distances between campus buildings (Baird, Merrill, & Tannenbaum, 1979;Sherman, Croxton, & Giovanatto, 1979), the quality of visual and auditory aesthetics at outdoor locations (Merrill & Baird, 1980), as well as the number and nature of social activities occurring indoors (Baird, Noma, Nagy, & Quinn, 1976). In addition, studies of mental psyehophysies in which subjects compare attributes of objects on different dimensions suggest that information specific to episodic exemplars can be used in mental comparisons (Hubbard, 1988;Kerst & Howard, 1978;Mover, Bradley, Sorenson, Whiting, & Mansfield, 1978).…”

Why do students miss psychology experiments and what can be done about it?

“…This factor accounted for a very small percentage of no-shows in this experiment. However, if this is a sizable problem on a campus, then clear way-finding systems could be used to alleviate most of this problem (see Butler et al, 1993).…”

“…Another technique that researchers have used to minimize social desirability biases in verbal responses is to ask people to report about others rather than themselves (e.g., Baird, Noma, Nagy, & Quinn, 1976;Butler & Biner, 1990). The logic of this approach is that people usually have no reason to mislead others about the social desirability of the motives or behavior of anonymous friends and acquaintances.…”