From 10:10 to the government's Act On CO2 campaign, it is now widely accepted that tackling climate change will require tackling behaviour change too. But until now, a key piece has been missing from the puzzle – psychology. The study of human behaviour has been conspicuous by its absence from the climate change debate. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
While I am an ardent supporter of the cause of dealing with climate change AND a practicing clinical psychologist, I fear that the author has rather overstated the role of psychology and entirely ignored the role of advertising and marketing. In one sense, the advertising industry has long been the public activation arm of psychology, though not under the auspices or control of the psychologists. A failure to recognize the role of advertising leaves a serious gap in the story and undermines the core thesis. What the author is really referencing more often than not is advertising, and how to move a public. This is not information contained in "dusty books" in the colleges of psychology. It is current marketing data. For the ... More »
Insightful report about the psychology of climate change, and why this issue is still perceived as a vague, abstract threat. This short article cites several authoritative research studies which suggest that many people don't feel personally vulnerable about this issue - and respond more to concerns about 'air pollution' than 'climate change.' Good overview about an important problem, with some reasonable ideas on what to do about it.
while what's missing in the discussion of climate change, this piece too seems to miss some things in the discussion. in simplifying human behavior, which doesn't exist in a vacuum, but in cultures,the fixes may not take enough into account. rewards ( for example, more financial ability to acquire more goods is one for this culture) of an individual's culture may be the quickest effective way to change behavior. missing also is any part of our animal origins, where fears arise. long-range fear isn't there, as cigarette history illustrates. the piece however does a service in continuing to bring climate change into our consciousness and in a different way.
The assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have provided the scientific evidence of human impact on the climate, and a glimpse of what the ... More »
Adam Corner seeks an "input of psychologists" aimed at changing personal behaviour in order to stop climate change. Psychological research should - in his opinion - show ways to change human behaviour so that climate would become a major concern in the lives of all people. How the impact of psychology on human life should be achieved, and how an ordinary life influenced or even ruled by psychologists should work in detail - is largely left to the imagination of the reader.
Adam Corner seems to find his main hope in the impact of "psychology" (I read this as "psychologists") on human nature. He expects some experts of human behaviour to find and build ways to generally change humans into the direction desired by him. Adam Corner disregards the problems of this approach, and he overstates the ability of "psychology" to change society. His ideas did not convince me, and I do not consider it desirable to manipulate human behaviour - in any direction.
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