HUXLEY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

HUXLEY COLLEGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Estu 487/587 (CRN 42471/42040) -- 4 cr. -- Aut, 2009

CONSERVATION PSYCHOLOGY

Location: Academic Instruction bldg - West 410. Time: Tues & Thurs, 10:00-11:50 am

Instructor: Gene Myers, Ph.D.

Office: AH 224; Phone: x4775; mailstop 9085; mailbox in AH 217; e-mail: Gene.Myers@wwu.edu

Office Hours: Tues. & Weds. 2-4. Or, arrange with me.

Course webpage URL: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/envr487.html

OVERVIEW:

Conservation Psychology (CP) refers to an emerging field of research and practice that uses the theories and methods of psychology to understand and improve the relationships between people and natural systems. It draws on potentially every area of psychology, and has connections to allied fields of conservation social science, such as environmental psychology, environmental education research, human ecology, environmental sociology, geography, "human dimensions" research, common property research, economics, political science, and others. It has important links and parallels to conservation biology, whose primary concerns are understanding and conserving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. As a science, CP is rigorous and critical, but it also prioritizes its questions.

CP has two major goals, often related. Some research in CP explores uncharted territory--uncharted since the human relationship to nature has not been a central topic in psychology. Findings here have the potential to modify our fundamental ideas about human nature. We have at best incomplete answers to questions like whether and how it matters if children today have fewer encounters with rich natural systems; what is the place of wildness and wilderness in the human psyche; do children really form deep connections to nature-and if so how; what are the range of basic experiences and benefits of human experience of natural systems, and what are the consequences if these are lacking; and what roles does culture play in mediating experiences of nature. Secondly, CP also contributes to applied fields such as policy, planning, communications, management, design, environmental education, and other interventions. Conservation psychologists may work in close partnerships with practitioners, organizations and agencies. Topics may be very targeted such as increasing people's proper maintenance of their septic systems, reducing conversion of habitat, reducing trade in endangered species, or increasing support for aggressive climate change policy. The goal here is to bring the resources of psychology to where they are best used to promote conservation and healthy socio-ecological systems. This course will introduce you to a range of issues, concepts and methods that help with these two challenging goals.

OBJECTIVES:

This course should help you:

1) Be able to explain and compare psychological theories and findings describing and/or explaining the human relationship to the natural world.

2) Better understand how we humans think about, feel about, benefit from, experience, and connect to nature, and what inspires or inhibits conservation action.

3) Be able to apply the tools of psychology to make recommendations and to constructively criticize conservation strategies, including policy strategies and environmental education practices as well as assumptions about human beings that are embedded in cultural discourses.

4) Understand some basic principles of psychological research, including a variety of approaches and the kinds of questions for which they are appropriate.

5) Explore an area in depth, and communicate about what you learned.

MEANS TO APPROACH LEARNING:

1) Attendance, readings, discussion questions, and participation in class.

The class will be conducted largely in a seminar style, with discussion, activities, some lectures. In a community of learners, time together inevitably creates non-reproducible moments, whether it be sparked by lecture, discussion, activity, practice, or serendipity, so being present is important. Also, we will strive to become an interdependent learning community where we move together through some challenging territories.

Special note for autumn 2009 H1N1 flu season: In accordance special with university policy, I will accommodate a self-reported influenza-like illness. Normally absence due to illness requires a written note from a M.D. or the WWU Health Center, but wait times may be prohibitive this season. Please submit a written explanation by email. If your absence is longer than 7 consecutive weekdays, you do need to provide a note. The university’s goal is to minimize spread of flu viruses, so you should not return to class until you have been without a fever (without using fever-reducing medications) for 24 hours. If you are absent for an extended period with the flu and miss crucial material, we will find a suitable alternative. I will be reasonably lenient with due dates. In the event I get the flu, the university also asks that I stay home. In this case I will provide email notice to everyone, and arrange for substitute or alternate class plans.

Preparation includes careful study of the materials or completion of any activities given prior to each class session.

For each class meeting day, you should print out and bring two brief questions or commentaries on the day’s readings (one on each reading when there are more than one reading is assigned). Include relevant page citations so we can all find it. You might raise something you found surprising, interesting, or unclear. Or something that has important implications, or about which you would like to hear others’ thoughts. The purpose of this is to help you engage deeply with the reading and help our discussions focus on what members of the group find most important.
On some days there will be additional short writing pieces, usually tied to an in-class activity related to the topic of discussion that day. These are in addition to the questions on the reading, unless otherwise instructed.

Discussion is an important part of your participation in the class. Here are some discussion behaviors that enhance group learning (list from my colleague, Deborah Winter):

For more ideas, see: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/ehe/discpart.html

Due Sept. 29: No reading response, but please do the following prepare fro a background presentation on a sub-discipline of psychology. Each student will select a sub-discipline within psychology and be prepared to give a pithy, succinct 5 minutes talk, describing the nature of its typical subject matter, important questions and concepts, typical study methods and some things you find interesting.… This will help us get familiar with the broader discipline and its sweep. Obviously you cannot cover much in such a short time, but try to hit major points. Please sign-up on the first day of class, to be presented one week later.

The sub-disciplines we need covered are:

1) Physiological psych & neuroscience; 2) Comparative psych; 3) Sensation & Perception; 4) Motivation and emotion; 5) Social psych; 6) Learning theory; 7) Cognitive;

8) Developmental Psych; 9) Personality & Psychopathology; 10) Organizational and Industrial; 11) Community psych; 12) Cultural, cross-cultural and ethno psych;

13) Environmental psych; 14) Engineering and human factors; 15) Consumer psych

16) Evolutionary psych; 17) Positive psych; 18) Humanistic psych

2) Behavior self-change project. You will have the chance to try out changing your life to be more environmentally sustainable. Note that this is a learning activity in which you have considerable latitude of choice. It is not an attempt on my part to change your behavior, but to help you learn about analyzing behavior. What you do with what you learn from this is up to you. Due Oct. 29. Here are the steps:

a. Choose a specific goal. (e.g., I want to eat less meat.)

b. Define the goal in behavioral terms. (e.g., I will have 2 vegetarian meals per day)

c. Tell someone about the goal; make a public commitment.

d. Before making any changes, observe your relevant present behavior for 2 days and write down circumstances surrounding the behavior. (e.g., I east meat when there are no good vegetarian options, when I am in a hurry, when someone else cooks, etc.)

e. Examine the conditions under which the behavior occurs and look for ways to change the circumstances that lead to the non-goal behavior. (e.g., I can make sure that there are always good vegetarian options available in my fridge or freezer)

f. Make a formal contract with yourself and with the class.

g. Put your plan into action for several days, then go back to observing and keeping track of goal-related behaviors.

h. Write up what you learned from the whole process as described above and what questions, reflections or broader speculations it left you with.

3) Individual project

Each student will complete a project on a topic of their choosing over the course of the term, and present the outcome to the rest of the seminar on one of the last days of the term. If a group wants to work on a project together this is fine but it must be cleared with the instructor in advance, and I will ask each member to confidentially evaluate all group members’ contributions at the end. If you want to make this course work more closely with another of your courses or responsibilities, do talk about it with me. I am open to such possibilities but want to ensure that this course makes a unique contribution to your work. The project might be of one of four types:

a) Select a conservation problem area of interest to you and design a program (not necessarily educational, although that is fine) that will have an effect on a psychological variable. For example it might affect environmental knowledge, sense of connection, commitment, pro-environmental behavior). Research the science and policy background of the environmental issue, and explore potential psychological approaches. Talking with others and me may be key at this point. Develop a strategy paper (10-15 pages) for how you would apply conservation psych principles to achieve the goals of the program, explaining why you think your program would have the results you hope. Then design a study (5-8 pages) to evaluate the effectiveness of your proposed program. Include ideas for research methods and measurements, expected results, and implications of the expected results (i.e., how you would need to revise your planned program based on your findings). This major project option is probably the most like what you are likely to use this course for later, and is encouraged.

b) Carry out a mini-research project, gathering data to answer an interesting specific question relevant to environment and behavior. If this is tailored to a modest scale, it is doable and highly rewarding in terms of learning. This option will entail defining your question, giving an overview of the background and context; a discussion of scholarly research on the problem; a concise statement of the research question; a description and rationale of the research approach taken; description of all methodological aspects (sampling, subject selection, instruments, analyses), conducting the data collection and analyses, and writing it up according to APA conventions. The shape of such a project will vary greatly depending on your topic and approach…. so don’t assume what it would be like until you’ve explored it. Talk to me if you want to follow this option as each will be highly customized.

c) Critical literature review and synthesis on a closely-defined topic in conservation psych. Your topic might be generated from interest, theory, or from a current environmental issue. It should involve key psychological (or other social science) concepts and theories. Sometimes it helps to think laterally rather than telescoping: what other domains of problems might entail similar variables? You should start with general reference works relevant to the area, and use published literature reviews and meta-analyses. Figuring out how to most usefully frame your inquiry is the most important step, so spend some time upfront on this work. Go beyond such overviews to the original research reports, choosing from a broad selection those works that most cogently address your concern. Analytical and empirical papers from peer-refereed journals should be used, for the most part. Your paper must contain references to at least 6 empirical research papers which you read on the same focused area. Before your write, you will need to critically evaluate each article, considering the following: purpose & type of research, research question, links to other research, variables measured, data collection methods, subjects, sampling procedures, analyses, findings and limitations. Were the claims presented in the articles warranted by the evidence? (Please do NOT summarize all these details in your paper, but take only the relevant findings and caveats.) Taking all the research you reviewed as a whole and synthesizing, what are the strong aspects of our knowledge in the area you investigated? What stands out as the important questions that remain unanswered, or inadequately answered? What critical theoretical differences could be resolved by research? How useful do you judge the body of research, and for what purposes could it be applied? What applications would you suggest? What kinds of information might be needed by practitioners but that the research is not presently offering? Your final write-up should represent a coherently organized critical synthesis that addresses what you judge to be the most salient of the answers to questions such as the above.

d) option D has yet to take definite shape, but it adds a practical component and requires some time off-campus, and is only available for a limited number of students (about 6). This will be a continuation of my relationship with Columbia Elementary teacher and students. The emphasis will be on children’s participation in design and decision-making related to enhancements of the school ground for better play, learning, and connecting to nature. It will require a little additional reading on the principles of facilitating children’s participation. I’ll cover the background on this in class once the teachers and I have had a chance to discuss it more.

The major project is due in phases to help you make steady progress and to ensure you benefit from my input. Project topics must be chosen on or before Oct. 15, in consultation with me. A preliminary list of resources is due Oct 22. An outline of your project is due Nov. 5. A draft in electronic form is due Nov. 17. I will give the majority of my feedback to you on this draft, which I will retain to see how the final draft demonstrates intelligent reflection on feedback. Obviously if your draft is very rudimentary, I will not be able to give you substantive feedback. On the other hand, if you regard your draft as nearly-complete, you may be surprised to find I think it needs another round of reorganization or more research… so aim for a substantial but rough draft at this date. You will give a 15-minute presentation on your paper. These will on December 1^st, 3^rd and 8^th. Attendance at these is required for everyone; you will learn a lot from each other & will benefit from each other’s feedback. Public speaking is a crucial skill, as you know, as is writing well. You do not have to use powerpoint, but certainly can, or use other kinds of illustrations. The final written report is due on the scheduled finals day, Dec. 8.

****In all assignments for the course, you should use the American Psychological Association’s citation and reference formats, as presented in its Publication Manual, 5th Edition. A summary of its features is at: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPA.html. See the most current printed Manual for more details****

For some useful resources on writing and research, see: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers/resstud.html. Particularly, see the links on this page on academic honesty and plagiarism & related WWU policies.

EVALUATION:

Attendance, participation & contribution to class discussions: 30%
Behavior self-change project write up: 10%
Individual project and report: Oral presentation: 10%; Written report: 50%

· Expectations are commensurate with upper-division status (487) or graduate status (587).

· Self-evaluation: by the finals date, provide a written narrative assessment of your learning in this course. This should focus on your individual strengths and where you feel you could have reasonably attained more, as well as on how this course has changed your horizons. Assign yourself a letter grade based on this assessment.

· Grading breakdown: A = 100% - 93 %, A - = 92 - 90, B+ = 89 - 87, B = 86 - 83, B- = 82 - 80, C+ = 79 - 77, C = 76 - 73

· All unclaimed papers will be put in a folder in the 'student papers' file in AH 217 after quarter grades are turned in. They will be discarded after 1 quarter.

DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION:

Any student with a disability that may affect their performance in this class is encouraged to speak to the instructor or the Office of Student Life (360-3083) to arrange for suitable accommodation.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

• Clayton, S. & Myers, G. (2009). Conservation psych: Understanding and promoting human care for nature. Oxford: Wiley / Blackwell. Available at author’s cost from instructor.

• Kahn, P. K & Kellert, S. R. (2002). Children and nature: Psychological, Sociocultural and evolutionary investigations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Available at WWU bookstore, etc.

• Selected articles—as listed in the schedule, or TBA; use web version of syllabus for links.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Keeping up on current env. news can give each of us a supply of examples for examination. I strongly suggest you follow local or larger scale environmental news. For local issues, read the B’ham Herald, Whatcom Watch (http://www.whatcomwatch.org/php/WW_open.php), or other papers. For national & broader news, there are several sources. One great one is Grist, to which you can subscribe or visit -- and, it includes good doses of HUMOR! http://www.grist.org/. From the Encyclopedia of the Earth folks, you can get Earth News: http://www.earthportal.org/news/. There is also the Environmental News Service, http://www.ens-newswire.com/index.asp, and the Environmental News Network, http://www.enn.com/. You may have your own favorite – even the NYT has an env. page.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF TOPICS & READINGS -- SUBJECT TO REVISION

Week 1

Thurs. Sept. 24 -- Instructor at conservation social science book working meeting in Washington DC

Receive syllabus & textbook

To get a common reference point that helps pose the question, "WHY conservation psych," the class will meet segments of some films.

Afterward, I suggest you read up on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Reports at: http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx

Week 2: Introduction to psych and the natural environment

Tues. Sept 29 What is Conservation Psych? How can psych help us understand human behavior affecting the natural environment, and different routes to changing it?

Pre-class reading:

-Clayton & Myers, Ch. 1

-Saunders, C. (2003). The emerging field of CP.

-one of the Commentaries in the pdf that follow Saunders's piece - come prepared to summarize its main point (sign up for these at last Thursday's class)

-to find the above 2 readings, go to: http://www.humanecologyreview.org/102.htm Scroll down to Human Ecology Forum, and download Essay by Saunders, and the Commentary pdfs.

Thurs. Oct 1

Further discussion of Tuesday readings, and how you connect to them.

Class members provide 5-minute presentations of different areas of psych.

Week 3 Theoretical perspectives on humans and nature

Tues. Oct 6 Overview of theories about humans and nature

Pre-class reading: a) Clayton & Myers, ch. 5; b) Kaplan & Kaplan (in Kahn & Kellert)

Thurs. Oct 8 Possible evolutionary origins of human relationship to nature

Pre-class reading: a) Verbeek & de Waal; b) Heerwagen & Orians (both in Kahn & Kellert)

Week 4 Mind and nature: Cognition

Tues. Oct 13 Perceptions, concepts, attitudes, knowledge

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 2

Thurs. Oct 15 Development of concepts of nature

Pre-class reading: Coley et al (in Kahn & Kellert)

Due: Project topic

Week 5 Ethical formation and nature

Tues. Oct 20 Moral traditions and psych applied to relations with nature

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 3

Thurs. Oct 22 Developmental perspectives on moral reasoning & emotion toward nature

Pre-class reading: a) Kahn; b) Myers & Saunders (in Kahn & Kellert)

Due: Initial list of resources

Week 6 Identity and environment, place & living things

Tues. Oct 27 Environment and identity

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 4

Thurs. Oct 29 Identity development & nature

Pre-class reading: a) Chawla 1999; b) Thomashow (in Kahn & Kellert)

Due: Behavior self-change project report

Week 7 Experience of nature

Tues. Nov 3 Nature at hearth & home and front-country nature

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch's 6, 7

Thurs. Nov 5 Wildness and wilderness

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 8

Frederickson & Anderson 1999

Due: Outline of major project

Week 8 Getting psychology right for sustainability

Tues. Nov 10 Behavioral analysis, nudges and systematic behavior change campaigns

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 9

Thurs. Nov 12 Behavior change, continued

Pre-class reading: Stern, et al. (1999)

Recommended: a) Weathercocks and Signposts; b) Simple and Painless

Week 9 Psych in context

Tues. Nov 17 Community and conservation -- here and internationally

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 10

Due: Draft of major project.

Thurs. Nov 19 Environmental education connections

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 11

Week 10 Looking ahead

Tues. Nov 24 Positive psych, gratitude and hope

Pre-class reading: Clayton & Myers, Ch 12

Thurs. Nov 25 No class- Thanksgiving

Week 11 Presentations

Tues. Dec 1 Student presentations

Thurs. Dec 3 Student presentations

Finals week

Tues Dec. 8, 8:00am-10am (our assigned finals time) Student presentations