How about leaning toward social psychology? Then you could get into what I always think of as the "sunshine stuff" - that people are more likely to report that they feel happy when the sun is shining, as well as being more likely to help others, and less likely to sink into depression, deindividuation and harming others and others' property. For the environmental component, you could point out that a smoggy day could ruin THAT effect. A smoggy day might even increase the incidence of SAD (seasonal affective disorders). Hey, it's a thought.
Also, you might bring in other altruistic stuff - what are factors involved in the kind of people who might find environmentalism appealing? (Probably have to do some creative stereotyping there!) And mention all the difficulties with raising funds - more social psych. stuff with topic of "social loafing" - talk about "social riders" and how difficult it is to get people to contribute time and money to a cause that is seen as something that others will help out with too. (I always use the fund-raising efforts of public radio as an example in class - how public radio has to use all sorts of other enticements to get people to donate because an individual may think his/her contribution doesn't make that much of a difference, and if he or she doesn't donate, the cause won't die because others will still help. So they have to use gifts to donors, publish the names of donors, delineate just how $5 will help - in the case of environmentalism, maybe buy two blue spruce seedlings, or something.)
>From a community psych. aspect, you could stress the difficulties humans encounter when they're too crowded. And the pluses when there are open spaces - parks, and such.
When teaching intro I always love to stress some appealing things about darwinistic leanings, such as why we might prefer the sight of an open field/meadow, etc. (Because, so the theory goes, in cave dweller days it would have made us feel safer since we could see approaching saber-toothed tigers, etc.) You could point out that if we keep doing away with parks and open areas, we may contribute to humans' mental stress. Next step mental illness? Of course that's a leap, but you can mention that we don't really know what the connections are, but as Mr. Heckle from "Friends" used to say, "It COULD be there."
One more thought (more community psych. stuff) - it's been noted that in communities where the population is very dense (Japan, NYC), there is less interaction between people on the street, neighbors, etc. That may be to help preserve their privacy and sense of self, which may be more threatened by crowding and to cut down on the stress of crowding. Japanese students I've had in class report that when living at home with multiple generations in small quarters - more common at least in those families, family members learn to "pretend" they don't hear the noise of others. I always envisioned this may have been how, in the "old days," they could live in a home that had rice paper walls (though my students didn't live in that kind of home, so didn't hazard a guess about that situation. They politely agreed with me that it was "probably so.") This of course would fit in with the environmental stuff - do we want to have our world get so crowded that we all have to resort to having to make a constant effort to "not notice" each other?
Wow, I'm really on a roll here. Want me to journey to Rock Island and give the talk? (JUST KIDDING!)
Best wishes on the talk!
Beth Benoit
Daniel Webster College
College for Lifelong Learning
Portsmouth NH
HEAR ME>> http://www.pagoo.com/signature/bbenoit3
From: "Fenwick, S.A." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:01:57 -0600
To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: environmental references
Tipsters,
Help! In an impulsive moment I agreed to speak to our campus environmental group about psychology and the environment (at least I didn't get too specific). Now time is running short and I'm having a heck of a time finding sources. Possible topics would include beneficial effects of outdoor experiences, etc. Any help would earn my eternal gratitude.
Thanks,
Fen
S.A. Fenwick, Ph.D.
Dept. of Psychology
Augustana College
Rock Island, IL 61201
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
