ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY GOES BEYOND THE LABORATORY

Abstract

While I intend to advocate extending scientific research beyond the laboratory, I am still a strong supporter of the laboratory. It is only in the laboratory that we can get what all scientists, those interested in human problems and those disinterested, probably desire - controlled conditions. If we desert the lab, we are left with anecdote and uncontrolled observations, neither of which should be discounted; but it is only in the lab that we can attempt to test hypotheses. When we get cross-cultural studies, we have tested our hypotheses over place. Longitudinal studies test our hypotheses over time. I would defend, to the last breath, patient laboratory work. Why then have I chosen to promote going "beyond the laboratory"?