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doi: 10.1080/00207599108247143pmid: N/A
In the first part of this paper existing evidence (mostly from earth and atmospheric sciences) on global climatic changes and their dependence (and effect) upon human action is briefly reviewed. Reference is made to existing major international programmes of research focusing on these climatic changes. The main part of the paper concentrates on the study of global change within the framework of the social sciences. Five psychological characteristics of global environmental change are explained which would account for the human inability to respond adequately without the supportive means of information presentation and processing. Future research on psychological dimensions of global change should explore these in greater detail and study modes of social communication that will become instrumental in implementing such support systems.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247144pmid: N/A
Since there are major gaps in scientific knowledge about the greenhouse effect, policy makers are forced to rely on scientists' judgments about the rate of climate change and its effects. It now appears that significant policy decisions will have to be made despite continuing uncertainty and disagreement among scientists. The best that policy makers can do is look for guidance in the best available expert judgment. But when the best experts express great uncertainty and disagree, as seems to be the case with the greenhouse effect, policy makers are unsure about how to proceed. Despite its importance, scientific judgment about the greenhouse effect has not been systematically studied. Psychological research on expert judgment and decision making provides theory, methods, and empirical results that can be used to study judgments based on uncertain and incomplete data and can help to explain the sources of expert uncertainty and disagreement regarding the greenhouse effect. Possible explanations are discussed.
Lévy‐Leboyer, Claude; Duron, Yves
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247145pmid: N/A
Perception of environmental degradation and awareness of environmental hazards came gradually, and was followed by collective action. Global change is different because of its specific features, which raise new issues for action‐oriented psychological research. The lack of consensus among scientists, the global nature of the change, and the type of risk are analysed in order to develop an agenda for research. Priority should be given to acquiring a better knowledge of the cognitive process in the face of serious danger with a high margin of uncertainty.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247146pmid: N/A
The historical and societal background of the Framework for Research on Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change is described in the first part of the paper. Increasing global risks and the destruction of the environment have driven international organisations to take initiatives for research programmes which are both cross‐disciplinary and cross‐national. The main portion of the article examines the psychological problems of the prerequisites for sustainable development. A part of them is concerned with various aspects of risk perception. Another part is described in terms of environmental awareness and human activity. Awareness includes both cognitive and affective components. Human activity should be examined at different levels, including decision making, choice behaviour, consumption patterns and the general way of life. Examples of both descriptive and analytic studies are presented. They indicate individual inconsistencies of various aspects of awareness and activity and discrepancies between them. Ways of decreasing the discrepancies are essential for sustainable development.
Halford, Graeme S.; Sheehan, Peter W.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247147pmid: N/A
A range of factors affect human response to environmental change. They include the information available, understanding of the phenomenon, the nature of the decision‐making processes implied, and the motivation for change. One major factor affecting decision making is that scientific information is not fully and accurately disseminated through society. The media have an important role in this process, but cannot disseminate all the necessary information in the manner that is required and do not reliably present information that is safe from misinterpretation. Further, scientific uncertainty about and complexity of biosphere changes complicate the process of reaching a rational decision. The mental model that people have of their world tends to be maintained unless it is contradicted by experienced events, so global change is likely to be understood only to the extent that it impacts on everyday life. Much of human reasoning is essentially analogical rather than based on standard logic, and its validity depends on finding a suitable analogical model. It is suggested that risk, or defence situations may provide useful analogies. Finally, we need to consider the motivational problems created by the sacrifices that must be made to deal with the problem effectively.
Zhang, Hou‐Can; Zhang, Yi‐Zhong
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247148pmid: N/A
A survey has been undertaken to examine long‐term psychological after‐effects of a devastating earthquake (the Tangshan earthquake) in China in 1976. Subjects (equal number of males and females, aged between 20 and 70) consisted of 110 paraplegic and 100 non‐deformed persons. The 16‐PF Questionnaire, two attitude tests and individual interviews were used in the investigation. Results show that the earthquake had long‐term effects on people's minds. The effects are extensive and long‐lasting, and differed between different groups. This indicates that in the study of the impact of Global Change on humans, earthquake disasters should be brought into focus, not only as physical disasters but also with reference to the psychological shock caused by an earthquake.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247149pmid: N/A
In this paper all psychological aspects of global change that concern acoustical environment changes are discussed. It is revealed that an acoustical environment has undergone essential qualitative changes: Human auditory perception is now mostly mediated by technical means and modern technologies. The general aspects of the research approach and some results are outlined. The problem of acoustical environment pollution is discussed and proposals for international cooperative research are made.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247150pmid: N/A
The rapid rise in the elderly population and the structural changes in the family and the support system that are a result of “modernization” constitute an important social dimension of global changes. Their psychosocial impacts are far‐reaching especially in the developing countries. Changes in the demographic profile of the aged, the nature of familial changes and their implications with regard to support systems for the elderly, their health, role in socialisation, economic dependency, overall lifestyle, satisfaction, cognitive capacities, attitudes and aspirations are discussed in this paper.
doi: 10.1080/00207599108247151pmid: N/A
Decreasing infant mortality is taken up as a demographic phenomenon which constitutes one aspect of a broader conceptualization of “Global Change”. At the root of the global environmental problems faced today is the population issue. With sharp increases in the rates of infant and child survival, the question of what happens to those who survive assumes greater importance. With new policy shifts focusing on early childhood care and development, psychologists' expertise is now being called upon. Psychological knowledge is required especially in the cross‐culturally valid conceptualization and assessment of human development. When made applicable to large numbers of children and parents, such knowledge can be used for detection and screening of risk cases and for establishing the environmental factors promoting psychosocial development.
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