Conservation Psychology

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Conservation Psychology

• Addressing the limitations of an infant
  subdiscipline

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Structure of the Talk

• 1. Why conservation psychology?
• 2. Limitations with previous research
• 3. Suggestions for future research
• aka the research I am doing now.
• 4. Questions.

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• 1. Why Conservation Psychology?

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1.1 Complex Problem,Complex Solution

• The complexity and ubiquity of the environmental
  problem requires input from many fields
  technology, government, business, sociology,
  psychology, and more.
• But ultimately the problems are caused by humans
  behavioural choices.
• Great environmental progress can be achieved with
  our current infrastructure just by adjusting
  behaviour to avoid excess waste. Reducing waste
  through simple behavioural changes (turning
  heating off when not home, fully inflating tyres,
  etc.) has a far greater positive impact than
  building wind turbines.
• And understanding/influencing behaviour is a job
  for psychologists
• Right?

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1.2 The Psychology-Environment Disconnect

• Many people psychologists and otherwise do
  not realize the psychological role in addressing
  environmental crises.
• Clayton (2000) asked all other 52 APA divisions
  if they had a policy on environmental practices
  only 7 did.
• Other divisions wrote in This seems not to be a
  psychological issue, and thus not within our
  sphere and This is the silliest questionnaire I
  have filled out in a very long time. . . . It is
  virtually impossible to understate the importance
  of APA divisions in regard to protecting the
  environment.
• Scott (2004) surveyed 1300 environmental studies
  alums and had them rate (1 to 5) how much they
  had studied various disciplines in their academic
  programmes. Psychology scored 1.5, lower than
  politics, sociology, public health, and
  philosophy.

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1.3 The Psychology-Environment Disconnect

• Many scientists and academics believe
  environmental crisis will be the biggest issue of
  the 21st Century (IPCC, 2007).
• If psychologists do not realize their own role in
  addressing this essentially behavioural problem,
  not only are we leaving humankind and nearly
  all species to greater suffering
• we are also threatening our own relevance as an
  academic discipline.

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1.4 The Recent Rise of Enviro-Psych

• These are publications per year retrieved by
  searching Google Scholar for conservation
  psychology.
• This growth rate is roughly 10 times that of
  psychology publications as a whole.
• Still, quite minor Division 34 of the APA
  Population and Environmental Psychology is one
  of the smallest (301 members.)

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• 2. Limitations With Previous Research

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2.1 Limitations in Previous Research

• Despite this increase, much research in the area
  is limited in a number of respects.
• Disciplinary/paradigmatic isolation.
• Short-term prioritized over long-term.
• Over-reliance on self-report data.

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2.2 Disciplinary isolation

• The environment is unique in how many fields
  study it.
• Environmental studies, Meteorology,
  Health/Medicine, Sociology, Government/Politics,
  Biology, Technology, Engineering, Architecture,
  Geography, Psychology...
• These disciplines tend to develop their own
  paradigms and theories, with little
  cross-communication. They tend not to read the
  same journals or go to the same conferences.
• This is massively inefficient, but also allows
  for more diversity.
• Ultimately, more interconnections are needed.

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2.3 Short-term Focus

• Most research focuses on the short-term. Some
  experimental studies find what is essentially
  priming Longitudinal studies are rarely designed
  for more than a few weeks.
• Conservation behaviour is only useful if it is
  stable and long term.
• But yet, conservation psychologists focus almost
  exclusively on short-term effects effect
  stability is rarely examined.

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2.4 Too Much Self-Report Data

• Environmental behaviour can be difficult to
  monitor, so self-report data is prevalent.
• Self-report data has its uses but the
  environmental problem is a problem precisely
  because people are unaware of how much they
  waste.
• Plus, demand characteristics can be high.
• Some notable exceptions use chip bin or meters
  (see Kurz, Linden, Sheehy, 2005 Kurz,
  Donaghue, Walker, 2005 Van Vugt, 2001.)

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2.5 Additional Limitations

• Near-exclusive focus on individuals instead of
  groups.
• Lack of unifying theories science of trivia.
• Relatively weak predictive power.
• Findings that are genuinely insightful are rarely
  adopted by those that have the power to implement
  them (Cialdini et al, 2006).
• Do any of these sound familiar in your area?

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2.6 Limitations and Application

• Most subdisciplines of psychology suffer from
  these same limitations.
• However, most of these subdisciplines favour a
  pure-science focus over applied science.
• Conservation psychology is distinctly concerned
  with application.
• Temporary or unstable effects that may be
  theoretically interesting often have little
  (immediate) applied value.

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• 3. Future Research
• (what I am doing now)

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3.1 Study 1

• Collected background correlational data with a
  broad range of cross-paradigm questionnaires
  (N152.)
• Interesting findings Although most people
  believed climate change would harm everyone, most
  thought they personally would be fine (The Stipe
  Effect.) F(2,320) 147!
• BUT the more perceived personal risk, the more
  likely they were to conserve!

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3.2 Study 1

• High Enviro ID was related to more general
  perceived risk (F2,318155.)
• High IDers also perceived less of a discrepancy
  between global and personal risk (interaction
  F2,3189.78.)
• Exact same relationship with energy conservation
  and perceived risk (main effect F2,318155
  interaction F2,3186.38.)

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3.3 Study 1

• One logical conclusion is that making people feel
  at risk could increase conservation.
• More interestingly, what if the sense of self
  were expanded to include what is already
  perceived to be at risk?
• Preliminary results are encouraging more
  research needed.

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3.4 Study 2

• Currently ongoing, 2 x 2 longitudinal design
• Investigates social ID and competition as
  motivators for conservation.
• Exeter students are told Exeter or Plymouth is
  doing well or poorly at conserving.
• One week later, a follow up measures any changes
  in conservation behaviour and (hopefully) why.

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3.5 Study 3

• Will begin in Autumn term.
• Longitudinal over an entire term (stability!)
• Use residential halls as conditions.
• Electricity use is a DV (plus psychometrics.)
• I have been taking weekly electricity readings
  (for statistical control) in 7 halls all year!
• Research question depends on Study 2 outcome.

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• 4. Questions?