Environmental Psychology: History, Scope, and Methods

Environmental Psychology: A discipline that studies the interplay between individuals and their built and natural environment

• How humans impact the environment and vice versa

History

• Environmentally psychologically has been recognized as a field in the 1960s
• Willy Hellpach
  • Considered as first environmental psychologist
  • Studied the impact of different environmental stimuli, such as color and form, the sun and the moon and extreme environments, on human activities
• Founding Fathers of Environmental Psychology
  • Egon Brunswik (1903-1955)
  • Kurt Lewin (1890-1947)

Towards a green psychology (our role)

• Growth in studies examining the role of humans in preserving (or destroying the environment)
• How the environment contributes to human mental health and well-being
• Human beings’ role is important in environmental psychology
  • Environment is influenced by human actions

Topics

• Conservation behavior, climate change beliefs, plastic use, nature and well-being (mental health), nature and healing

 Scope of the Field

• Increased concern about environmental problems (climate change, deforestation, pollution, etc)
• Broad concept “sustainability” (encompases healh, economic, environmental aspect of sustainable living)
• Eventually evolved into psychology of sustainability
  • Human behavior and how we can get people to engage in pro-environmental behavior

4 Features of Environmental Psychology

• Human-environmental interaction

  • Reciprocal interaction between humans and environment
  • Deforestation
  • Laws exist in the Philippines but they’re not as effective
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Philippines is top 3 in contributing globally
  • 50% of the plastic waste that went to the ocean come from the top 5 countries
  • 6-8% come from Pasig River

• Interdisciplinary approach

  • Psychologists working with
  • Environmental scientists, engineers, architects, sociologists, anthropologists, educators, etc.
  • Different perspective and more holistic point of view

• An applied focus

  • Problem-focused
  • Does not only study phenomenon but thinks about how it can be useful
  • E.g. how can we use research findings to reduce important environmental problems (plastic pollution, food waste, etc.)

• Use of diversity of methods

  • Quantitative methods (involve numbers, statistics)
  • Qualitative methods (interviews, group focus discussion, observation, etc.)
  • Cannot be generalized to the general population

  

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