Chapter 16

Environmental Psychology

The study of the physical environment and how people perceive, respond, and are affected by it.

sustainable behavior

Behavior that promotes protection of natural environment

Sustainability

Practices that can be maintained for an indefinite period.

Social psychologists

look at environmental attitudes and the power of social influence

Developmental psychologists

roots of environmental in early childhood

Cognitive psychologists

Study the ways people process information about environmental risks

Clinical psychologists

Impact of degraded environments of mental health

Conservational psychology (sustainbbility psychology, green psychology)

Psychology directed toward understanding and promoting a healthy relationship between humans and nature

Ecological psychology

theory of visual perception that emphasizes perception of the whole environment and to emphasize the important of understadning behavior in contect

Ecopsychology

Beleif that psychological health requires a feeling of connection to the natural world

Ecological sustainability

The ability to maintain the health and diversity of ecosystems.

What are the three types of pro evvironmental behavior

Environmental activism. ex protests

nonactivist public behavior ex. polcy support

Private sphere behavior

What are three types of private sphere behavior

Curtailment behavior: reduction in some behavior that uses environmental behavior (ex. driving less)

Behvaioral choice: doing something differently, less focus on doign something less

Technology choice: buying a hybrid car

Commons dilllema and what are ways to encourage collective behavior

Individuals must curtail their use of a collective resource or risk the irreversible depletion of that resource.

A sense of group identity, communication, trust

Describe the externa; influenced on behavior (nudges, prompts, incentives, social norms)

Nudges: a way to influence behavior without coercion

Prompts: reminders of the desired behavior

Incentives: encourage sustainable behavior but reward people for making the pro environmental choice

Social norms: standards of behavior that are aossicated with a particular role in society

Internal factors affecting behavior: values ( egocentric, altruistic, biocentric)

Relatively stable individual preferences for desired ways of being or acting

Egocentric: ots personally beneficial so it is valued

Alturistic: good for the group, public spirited

Biocentric value: nature and natural entitied have value by existing independent of human benefit

What is the value0beleif-norm model

An individual develops a value, has their beleifs affirmed from an external experince, and then activley demonstrated pro-environmental behaviors based on those values and belefs

Internal factors affecting behavior: self efficacy

The degree to whcih you believe you can make an impact

Other internal factors that affect ERB (Guilt, empathy, identity)

Guilt: good at motivating behavior change. Attempts to guilt that are too obvious wont work

Empathy: empathy for animals is easy but empathy for trees aren’t so anthropomorphizing them makes it easier to empathize with

Identity: multiple ways which we think about ourselves

What is moral licensing

Youve done something good so you have eared the right to do something bad

What is the spillover effect

an unintended consequence of an event or action that extends beyone its intended scope

What is the foot in door effect

taking one action for a person increases the liklehood that you will take more difficult actions for the same person because you feel committed

What are the two themes to environmental attitudes

Biocentric values: attitudes focused on preservation of nature

Anthropocentric values: attitudes focused on the utilization of nature

What is biophilia

AN inherited tendency to form an emotional connection with living organisms

• humans used to seek out landscapes that provide food and shelter

What is learning

Enduring change in the individual as a result of experiince, attitudes can be formed through experiences

What is place attachment

When people form bonds to places that have emotional significance, often where they spent their childhood

Other attitude stuff

• attitudes based ib durect experinces vs. learned from other people are most likely to affect behavior

• If people are not thinking about their beleifs and attitudes, attitudes can’t have an effect

How can you change an attitude?

The impact of a persuavive message can change an attitude

you have to keep in mind a recipients characteristic when making a message

it is important for the source of the info to be trust worthy

likeabi;ity and similarity to recipient are important

messages must be vivid and interesting

Limits on rationality and understanding (Focus on short term)

Humans focus on short term

n.c.: ignore future ocnsequences

p.r. link future consequences to short-term costs and benefits

Limits on rationlality and understanding (demosntrate status)

n.c. excessive materialist consumpption

p.r. demonstrate status through sustainable behavior

Be influenced by concrete rather than abstract

n.c. pay attention to weather rather than climate

p.r. describe climate change in terms of tangible effects

Use other people as models

n.c. replicate unsustainable behavior pattterns

p.r. publcize possible role models

What is temporal discounting

a cognitive tendency where people value immediate rewards over future benefits

Costly signaling theory

Individuals engage in behaviors that are demonstrably costly to themsle as a way to honestly signal positive qulites or attributes about themsleves

Biases (denial, justification, system justification)

Denial: coping mechanism allowing people to continue to function rather than be immobilized by fear or anxiety

JustificationL the need to describe actions as appropriate to the extent that people recognize that their own behavior has negative consequences but they believe they had no choice

System justification: the tendency to want to believe the political/social system within which one lives is just and thus to be okay with the status quo

Effective environmental messaging (framing)

Framing: the way in which a particular choice is presented in a message

To avoid having a message derailed make sure emotional defenses are down

know you audience, tell a story, personalize the impacts, encourage self efficacy

Negative effects on well being

Natural disasters can cause stresss, increase racial and ecnomic inequality, increase in domestic violence and agressions

increase in natural disasrer, rising sea levels, increase of temp changing rain patterns

Positive effects on well being

natural disasters can influence personal growth

nature can make people feel calmer, focus better

higher biodiversity has a greater positive impact than low biodiversity

Attention Restoration theory

The ability to direct ones attention toward something that is not intrinscially intresting requires cognitve resources that can be diminhsed. The best way to restore resources is to enagge in an actiity that draws attention and doesn’t elicit high emoitonal arousal