Centre for Human Ecology MSc/Diploma/Certificate Programme 2008 Option Module 5

Nature in Mind: Ecopsychology and the Crisis of Relationship

Module Guide 20 M level credits (200 notional study hours) The Ecopsychology Module and Guide was originally designed and written by: Tania Dolley and Brendan Hill in 2000, who subsequently taught the module for several years. Dave Key and MaryJayne Rust have made a few minor alterations over the past 3 years, during the time they have been teaching the module. Course Tutors: David Key & Mary-Jayne Rust

Rationale We live in an age of extremes and of paradox. On the one hand, we (in industrial growth society) pride ourselves on being highly intelligent and technologically advanced, the most evolved creatures on earth. Yet on the other hand, we have, (in the last 200 years or less), been engaged in destroying our habitats, our communities and ultimately ourselves albeit as a by-product of so-called progress. It seems that we are hanging by the most slender of threads. We even have many of the solutions to this crisis at our fingertips, but we cannot turn this crisis around.yet. Why? While there are clearly very complex processes at work in the structures of our lives making it hard to live sustainably, there is also undoubtedly an underlying psychological dynamic at work creating apathy around change as well as denial of the very existence of the problem. Some would say that humans are, at core, greedy and selfish, and it is our very nature which is at the root of this crisis. The contribution of mainstream academic psychology to the understanding of our relationship with the natural environment is limited. Most environmental research and activism focuses on material and technological aspects of the ecological crisis, failing to examine underlying individual, social and cultural forces. If we acknowledge that the problems we face are psychological, and some would say spiritual, can we use insights from psychology and psychotherapy, those disciplines and professions so experienced in enabling deep change, to gain a deeper understanding of this issue, or even to enable collective change? 1

While psychology has concentrated on inter and intra-psychic origins of personality which draw a distinct boundary around the human self, there are some traditions which recognise another way of understanding our relationship with life. For example, Jungian, Gestalt and transpersonal psychologies are examples of psychologies which recognise our relationship with something beyond ourselves, something ultimately mysterious. Currently there is a growing acknowledgment of systemic and extrapsychic influences, as well as the role of society, culture, and globalisation. What is sorely needed is a recognition of the essential role played by the other-than-human world in our lives and our development.

Equally, alongside the growth of doubts about the place of 'mind' - and in particular what consciousness is and whether it is unique to humans - those with an interest in the other-than-human world have begun to explore potential lessons to be gleaned from psychology. From concerns and questions such as these, the ecopsychology 'movement' was born. It addresses the interface between ecology and psychology; on one side, it explores questions about how a psychological attitude can contribute to understanding our social and ecological crisis; on the other side, it explores why psychology needs to expand from human to human relationships, to include our relationship with the whole web of life. Some of these questions might include:

Perspectives from/about Psychology Are there psychological causes and effects of environmental degradation? To what extent are our ideas of material progress and technological power illusory? Do the concepts of denial, addiction and self-deception help us understand the roots of destructive environmental behaviour? Are people hiding their real feeling about the state of the global environment? Psychology traditionally does not look beyond the personal and social dimensions of the psychological; how can psychologists and therapists widen their context of theory and practice to include connections with the whole web of life? How do the beliefs we hold sustain our individual and collective behaviour, and can they be changed? Are there ways of bringing about change in values and attitudes that can lead to change in how we relate to and behave towards our environment? Is it possible to heal the individual while living within such a damaged world?

Perspectives from/about Ecology & the Environmental movement Are there lessons from ecology and cybernetics/systems thinking for psychology (e.g. family therapy, mind/body integration, possibly transpersonalism, the psychology of the tribe?); What happens when we extend psychology beyond the human? (questions of animal, plant and cosmic consciousness; self and where it comes from; interspecies communication); 2

To what extent is nature (as conceptualised by humans) a reality, ie more than a social construction, and how might that have become ingrained through evolution in our minds - e.g. evolutionary psychology. Could the environmental movement be more effective if it made better use of psychological understandings? What are the most effective ways to encourage environmentally friendly behaviour, and why is our destructive environmental behaviour often so intractable, even when we want to change it or 'know better'?

We evolved in a primaeval, savannah landscape. Since we have only recently become urbanised, our brains and bodies are therefore equipped at a fundamental level for lives spent gathering, hunting and scavenging, always within the safety of our tribe. Equally, it is speculated that our minds, whose 'hard wiring' continues to be moulded for years after birth, are fundamentally sculpted by our experience, particularly that of early life. Is it not therefore reasonable to suggest that our much changed lives, now for most humans bereft of a close knowledge of nature's daily cycles, separated from the rich tapestry of other presences, alter our very patterns of thinking and being? This pioneering module (the first time this subject has been offered at this level in the UK) introduces a conception of the full human being as a co-creation not just of genes with experience of other humans, but also of an interaction with the rest of life. It offers a variety of theoretical perspectives on this insight, including a review of the ways in which ecological and systemic models have been applied in psychology, and discusses how we might apprehend mind/consciousness in nature. It highlights some of the ways in which human societies have in both ancient and modern times interacted psychologically and mythologically with their surroundings, and attempts through experiential learning to convey a fuller impression of the field than could be gathered through classroom learning alone. Ecopsychology encompasses a broad range of disciplines, ideas and approaches. A central theme is 'relationship'; both how the more-than-human world affects our psyches, and conversely how our psyche influences our beliefs, attitudes and behaviour towards nature, from the personal to the global level. How do we experience our 'connectedness' with other living beings, and how have we come to be disconnected or alienated, from ourselves, each other and the earth, both on an individual and collective level? Understanding how this split between the psychological and the ecological might have come about, and how we can start the process towards healing this split and reconnecting, is the first part of the journey of understanding. Later, we address how this regeneration might work on the level of the individual and how this might be expanded to include the wider human sphere. In this, we will be exploring tools and techniques from many sources, e.g. ecotherapy; the work that reconnects (practices initiated by Joanna Macy); John Seeds deep ecology work; as well as insights from certain spiritual perspectives, e.g. Buddhism, transpersonal psychology. We will draw on contributions from the academic disciplines of environmental psychology and social psychology in particular, critically evaluating ideas and themes in ecopsychology from different perspectives. We will look at some of the many ideas of self and nature. We will also examine our understanding of the interdependence between our health and wellbeing as a human species and that of the earth, over a variety of time scales. Along the way, we 3

will encounter many key thinkers whose ideas, both contemporary and ancient, contribute to our enquiry. Topics covered will include aspects of the various schools of psychology mentioned above, human-animal relations, evidence for consciousness in other species and in the other-than-human in general, horticultural and other nature-related therapies, wilderness practice, shamanism and certain tenets of anthropology.

A focus throughout the module will be exploring the personal and spiritual dimensions of ecopsychology, as well as the intellectual and academic, encouraging you to reflect on your own relationship with nature and on your personal journey, to identify your own practices and any changes or behaviours you might wish to make. Within the metaphor of 'head, heart and hands' this module will start with 'heart', and begin from your personal experiences and feelings. We will then move into 'head' territory to think about ecopsychology, and integrate this with experiential work and more physical activities on the residential.

Aims and objectives to understand the historical context and cultural assumptions that influence our relationship with the natural world to consider ways in which, in industrial growth culture, we may have become alienated from nature to understand the connections between ecology and psychology and the contributions from each to ecopsychology to consider how ecopsychology links with and includes both intellectual disciplines and experiential dimensions to review current thinking on how psychology can be applied to understanding behaviour of the human species in relation to the environment to have a grasp of some of the existing research that is relevant to the field of ecopsychology to explore ways of expanding concepts of self and consciousness to include an awareness of interdependence and the ecological self and to try some of the experiential exercises from ecotherapy, wilderness practice, and the work of Joanna Macy and John Seed. to inquire into the spiritual elements and implications of ecopsychology to explore and deepen your personal relationship with nature, and what it means in your life to be involved in ongoing thinking, debate, development and research and to make a contribution as this new discipline evolves

Learning outcomes By the end of this Module you will have: an appreciation of ecopsychology as a new interdisciplinary field; it's scope, antecedents, limitations, and potential uses an understanding of the various strands within ecopsychology and the relationship between them an appreciation of the postulates and evidence for the main tenets of evolutionary and environmental psychology, together with an understanding of how these articulate with the principal 4

understandings of developmental and education psychologies, with particular emphasis on environmental education an understanding of the variety of ways in which human societies situate themselves psychologically and mythologically in relation to the natural world. developed a deepened personal and experiential understanding of your own relationship with nature basic skills in the facilitation of experiential methods aimed at creating closer and more highly aware psychological relationships with nature. an ability to make an informed contribution to the evolving debates within ecopsychology, to critically evaluate the themes and arguments, drawing on empirical research where relevant.

Assessment Journal : A personal poetic and/or prosaic journal in which you regularly reflect on your thoughts and feelings about your relationship with nature (whatever you conceive nature to be), and any changes that occur, during the module. You may use different means of expression but your submission must include a written component and you may include other items such as images and objects, gathered or created, which help document your journey. Ideally, you should revisit and if appropriate add to it once a week. Your journal should at least show evidence of regular input - ideally based on time spent in nature - throughout the duration of the module. On completing the journal, you should include a final section of 1500-2000 words with reflections on what this process and experience has been like for you, recording how it might have influenced your thinking, what you feel you have learned and any insights or changes you have noticed. Marks will be based substantially on this final reflective section. Depth of reflection and regularity of input will be taken into account in the assessment of journals; pre-course and tutorial guidance on format of this section will be given. All parts of the journal must be submitted at the same time. Confidentiality: As journals may contain material of a personal nature, they will be treated as confidential and filed in sealed envelopes, to be read only by the course tutors and external examiners. Essay: A 3000 word paper on an issue of ecopsychological interest, whose subject matter you must previously discuss and agree with a module tutor. This should be written in an academic style and suitably referenced, with arguments supported by appropriate evidence or research, demonstrating knowledge and understanding of background theory. Presentation: You will be asked to prepare a 20 minute (non-assessed) presentation for the Residential, on the subject matter of the paper you intend to write in order that you may use feedback from your colleagues as constructive criticism. Tutors may suggest topics for those who have difficulty deciding. The weighting of marks will be Journal: 40%, Essay 60%.

Assessment Criteria Examiners will assess achievement using most or all of the following considerations. 1. Content: Has the student developed a knowledge of the principles of ecopsychology consistent with the module's learning outcomes? 5

2. Approach: Does this demonstrate capacity to integrate the academic with personal experience and values in ways that are actually or potentially of practical application in furthering the principles of human ecology? 3. Structure: Has the student demonstrated the capacity to organise an argument including, where appropriate, defining an issue, articulating a methodology, gathering data, conducting research, considering alternative viewpoints, supporting conclusions, referencing and making presentation? 4. Holism: Where appropriate, has the student demonstrated a capacity for holistic thought by synthesis into the wider context of other bodies of knowledge? 5. Circumscription: does the student demonstrate awareness of the limitations of their level of knowledge? 6. Collegiality: Has the student demonstrated capacity to work both individually and with others ... in the latter case, always with due acknowledgement of the contribution of others so that team and personal contributions can be clearly identified? 7. Scholarly: Has the student demonstrated the capacity to produce work to a good standard of scholarly presentation? 8. Inclusiveness: Where appropriate, does the student's work show sensitivity to race, class, gender, disability, religious difference, etc. consistent with an ethic of not contributing towards discrimination and disadvantage? 9. Efficiency: Has the student made efficient and effective use of tutor's time whilst preparing assignments? 10. Punctuality: Has the work been handed in on time?

Learning and Teaching Strategies Ecopsychology encompasses a wide range of ideas and topics. This module can only begin to introduce these, and serve as a guide to your own reading in more depth in the areas that interest you. As a relatively new field, ecopsychology is still evolving as thinking develops and changes. There is no 'orthodox' view, but rather an open field of enquiry that includes many ideas and techniques. Students are invited to participate in this enquiry, and contribute their critical thinking. One of the most important features of ecopsychology as an academic discipline is that it encompasses and includes both an experiential and intellectual dimension. This in itself can be seen as part of ecopsychology's attempt to address and heal the various schisms in our culture - splits between the thinking and feeling parts of ourselves, as well as between person and planet. The module will therefore draw on material that is both traditional and academic/empirical, as well as experiential or from more inspirational sources. It will build on topics first introduced in Module 2, especially conceptions of the self and self in relation. Students will be required to carry out significant guided reading and participate in group telephone and email conferences before and after the residential. Guest figures in the intellectual and experiential aspects of the course may be invited to join these conferences.

Students will be encouraged to share verbal or written summaries of their reading during tutorials and by posting to the dedicated email discussion list.

Residential The course will include a 4 day residential during March/April (including travel time), which will be an experiential, nature-centred group trip to a psychologically-affecting setting in nature, including the opportunity for some extended time alone in nature. Integrated into this experience will be periods of time to reflect and think about these experiences, making links with and deepening the ideas and discussions within the tutorials. Each student will have 20 minutes during the residential to make a presentation on an ecopsychological topic they are interested in for the topic of their paper, as a work in progress.

Session Titles

1) Telling your Earth Story - A personal enquiry into relationship with nature; Using the Environment for Education 2) What on Earth is ecopsychology? 3) Evolutionary & Cross-cultural Perspectives 4) Environmental Psychology and our Reactions to the World Around Us 5) Psychology of Environmental Crises and Environmental Action 6) Psychological Models related to Ecopsychology 7) Deep Ecology and the 'Ecological Self' 8) What Ails the Human Species? Consumerism and the 'Empty Self' 9) Healing with Nature Reconnecting through our Relationship with Earth 10) Across the Divide: Consciousness in the non-Human

Core Texts Roszak, T; Gomes, M and Kanner, A (Eds.) (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. San Francisco, Sierra Club. Please make sure you order this book well in advance so that you have it available a week before the start of tutorials. Available 2nd hand from www.amazon.co.uk or www.abebooks.co.uk.

Specific chapters referenced in each Session will be of particular relevance at that time, but it is also worthwhile reading this book in its entirety as an orientation to the subject matter. Whilst not necessarily complete in its coverage, it should help you choose what speaks to you, and what you would like to delve into more deeply. If you have a particular interest in introducing ecopsychological understandings in therapeutic settings, we recommended you also obtain: Linden, Sonja and Grut, Jenny (2002). The Healing Fields: Working with Psychotherapy and Nature to Rebuild Shattered Lives. Frances Lincoln Ltd. A moving and inspiring account of working in a natural setting on allotments with victims of torture, using nature as both a medium of communication and a source of healing. UK publication. We also recommend that you get a copy of Winter, Deborah DuNann (1996). Ecological Psychology: Healing the Split between Planet and Self San Francisco, Harpercollins. Please note: This book has been reprinted until a new title The Psychology of Environmental Problems Winter, Deborah DuNann & Koger, Sue (2003) Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, omitting the vital Chapter 2. There are copies available in the library.

Other Highly Recommended Texts The following books are among the most well known texts within the Ecopsychology movement: Abram, David (1996) The Spell of the Sensuous. Vintage Books, NY Bernstein, Jerome (2005) Living in the Borderland: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Challenge of Healing Trauma. Routledge. Clinebell, Howard (1996). Ecotherapy: Healing Ourselves, Healing the Earth, A Guide to Ecologically Grounded Personality Theory. New York, Haworth Press. Fisher, Andy (2002) Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life. State Univ of NY Press. Kidner, David W (2001) Nature and Psyche: radical environmentalism and the politics of subjectivity. State University of New York Press. Kidner is a UK academic. Plotkin, Bill (2003) Soulcraft: Crossing into the mysteries of Nature and Psyche. New World Library, CA. An excellent book for anyone interested in wilderness practice. Winter, Deborah DuNann (1996). Ecological Psychology: Healing the Split between Planet and Self San Francisco, Harpercollins. 8

These texts should be obtainable from www.amazon.co.uk or 2nd hand from www.abebooks.co.uk ; copies of some of these are also available in the CHE library. Some additional relevant papers from journals with special editions on ecopsychology are also listed in Appendix I at the back of the module guide. Websites: Some ecopsychology websites of general interest, including those specified in reading lists, are given in Appendix II. Further reading relevant to each Session is detailed in Session Reading lists. Feel free to explore any further texts that you judge to be relevant, whether referenced or not, at will: however, tutors will give regular guidance from the lists below and if necessary from other sources on what may be most appropriate at any given moment. This module covers a wide range of topics and there is a lot of suggested reading material. Do not panic!! You are of course not expected to read everything, and your choice may be guided by your particular interests. Many references are repeated as they are relevant to more than one Session. Some recommended references that may be particularly useful to read are marked with an asterisk. If during your reading you come across literature not mentioned in the module that you think would be interesting or relevant, please let us know. Many source texts including a variety of papers will be available in the CHE Library for consultation. Several references are available online. However some may require visits to other libraries. For those studying at a distance unable to visit CHE regularly, it is particularly important to plan your reading several weeks ahead to give time for ordered books to come to your local University library. If in doubt, or if you are experiencing difficulties obtaining sufficient relevant reading material, please DO NOT SUFFER IN SILENCE - tell your tutor (and ideally the email group), they may be able to help, for instance by suggesting alternative literature, web sites, book exchanges with other students, etc.

Session 1.

I A. Telling your Earth Story: A personal enquiry into relationship with nature. I B. Using the environment for education.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: related 'connectedness to nature' to your personal experiences and feelings about nature, past and present observed and questioned more deeply moment-to-moment and longer term relations with the natural world at different scales and over different time frames begun to explore and characterise this relationship with practical, experiential exercises appreciated two approaches to education carried out outdoors begun your 'earth autobiography'

II

Session Outline

I A. Telling your Earth Story: A personal enquiry into relationship with nature One of the major themes within ecopsychology is 'connectedness' with nature, with earth, with self and spirit, as well as with the web of life on this planet. This session will encourage you to explore your own relationship with nature and start thinking about what this means to you The aim of this session is primarily to relate the themes of ecopsychology to your own experience, in two ways: first to your own 'earth autobiography' and personal relationship with the earth and with nature, and any thoughts, feelings or images that you may have; and secondly to explore how the two major parallel streams of outdoor education articulate with the natural world.

"The tree that moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way." Clinebell (1996 p 26) quotes William Blake as an example of two extremes of possible relationships with nature, one representing what he calls ecophilia, the other ecoalienation: here, you should be asking 'where am I on this spectrum of experience?' How do we identify ourselves? Harvard psychotherapist and pioneering ecopsychologist Sarah Conn points out that as a culture we tend to introduce ourselves with a noun "I am a....", rather than - for example - in relation to the land that we occupy. Does this use of language in any way confine our experience and our relatedness? 1

The main activity for this part of the Session is to consider these questions. Good introductions to this are in Clinebell [Prelude and Chapter 1] and Cohen [Chapter 1] - you might like to perform the exercise he describes (Cohen has a voluminous web site, Project NatureConnect. Probably the largest single web site on experiential ecopsychology, it details many more exercises and offers various courses).

To do these exercises, find a space and time free of distractions, ideally outdoors and in natural surroundings (e.g. a garden, a bench in a park, a tree in a favourite woodland, a pond). (If you are really not able to find such a place, then close your eyes, think of a favourite beautiful, natural place, and do the exercises as though you were there.) Sit down and be present to the place - for example by taking an interest in a detail, like a passing bird, or the wind in the trees. Stay there at least half an hour, preferably an hour. Take time to consider and note your responses to each of the following:

What do you notice when you step outside your front door each day? Describe your favourite landscape, or a place or environment that is special for you now. To what extent is the natural environment merely a 'backdrop' to your other activities, or is it an integral part of how you relate to the world? Chose one natural place or living being near where you live, that you relate to or could imaging developing a relationship with, and visit it two or three times this week and next. Notice what it is like, how it feels, smells, how the light changes, what sensations arise in you when you are there, how it may speak to you, how it affects you, how you affect it, and keep a weekly diary of this. To what extent do you feel 'open' to receiving from this place? How do you experience this? Notice if this changes with successive visits. How do you relate to the weather, and the seasons? Think back to how you felt as a child when in nature. What was your relationship with nature? Describe a particular place or living being that had special meaning for you. Did you experience the destruction of a special natural place as you grew up? Did you experience any traumas in relation to the natural world? How, if at all, did your childhood experiences with the natural world shape you? Thinking about the wider global environment, what are your thoughts and feelings about this? Does what is happening in the global environment affect you personally? What does 'connectedness' mean to you? What does it mean in relation to nature? What does 'disconnectedness' mean to you?

Are there any other questions you would consider relevant not suggested here? By all means ask and answer them. Your notes while doing these exercises can (if you wish) form the first entry in your Journal.

I B. Using the environment for education. Doing things outdoors in natural settings is possibly the most common pleasure activity in Britain and other industrialised countries. People appreciate having even modest amounts of 'nature' near their homes, and talk about natural areas as places to think and forget their worries, to regain sanity, to enjoy 1

solitude (Talbot & Kaplan, 1984), and increasing numbers seek to do so (Mitchell 1994). Favourite leisure pursuits that regularly come top in surveys include walking - with or without a pet - in urban parks and woods (the favourite way to de-stress), gardening, excursions to the countryside, fishing and other 'outdoor pursuits', and looking and listening to programmes and publications about nature. With complex roots and motivations which we will revisit, the idea of being in 'the outdoors' has come to be seen as a good in itself, and two strands of thinking can be observed as to why this is. From the 1950s those attempting to address the issue of conservation more directly than mere pleas to people's good nature (sic) - such as addressing the sheer ignorance of an increasingly urbanised population of natural phenomena - saw in this a need to educate people in ways that would enhance familiarity with the living world. Direct contact with the environment was encouraged by promoting 'nature study' as a component of the school curriculum, almost inevitably as part of biology or general science. This, by increasing children's (notice - not adults') familiarity with, for example, other species (both as a hands-on and a chalk-and-talk experience), was meant to engender long-lasting changes in attitudes (however there is precious little research on whether it has actually done this, particularly in the long-term). Many of us are familiar with collecting tadpoles in a jam jar and watching their miraculous progress, which the teacher then explains. As an extension of this, most of us are familiar with the 'school outing', which often took junior school aged children to a place in nature, and may have involved exploration (walks, games) and/or elementary observation and identification of plants and animals. With the addition in the1970s and later of a more politicised environmentalist perspective linking local-scale changes with global trends, this has matured into Environmental Education. However, EE has struggled to gain acceptance in the curriculum in competition with more identifiably employment-related skills, and is often seen as a luxury. In addition, the affective component and potential in this area remains largely unacknowledged.

[Cf: "Children's time in school is spent with text, not the experience of events, social or natural. They learn science by reading words, not by observation of their own place in the world. Our children should be educated in natural history rather than the science of the invisible as it is now taught. The ability of living things to hold children's attention should be used to help them learn how to understand the living environment, respect the appearance of the world, and take responsibility for its care. Natural history, even in its modern forms, works on the surface of the world amid the bustling activities of living things.' From Wilson & Kellert (1993), p 192]

The second strand centres on the character-building qualities of outdoor experience, and is exemplified by the Outward Bound movement, and more recently by many management development courses. There is of course significant overlap here with the broad pursuit under one's own steam of exercise and relaxation outdoors. However the more commonplace type of formally organised course - often staffed by exservices personnel - utilises the natural world as a vast playground, offering challenges that may not be overcome without extraordinary initiative-taking, highly effective co-operation among and between groups and, in many cases, the overcoming of individual fears (e.g. abseiling from clifftops) amid an atmosphere of collective support and encouragement. At their extreme, military and expeditionary

training of this type seeks to push participants to the limits of physical and mental exhaustion, with the rationale of increasing the likelihood of survival if and when they encounter difficult situations for real.

Both mild (aimed at teenagers and older) and extreme (adult-only) versions share the goal of transferring this improved personal and team performance to less challenging, non-nature environments. They are often considered appropriate experiences for delinquent urban youths, since as 'fish out of water' such young men (almost always) are forced to face up to their own limits and acknowledge their dependence on others. However, this school of thought has tended to ignore the opportunities to increase the environmental knowledge and awareness of participants.

However, one early and notable exception is the Boy Scouts. The movement's founder, Baden Powell, while a distinguished soldier and servant of the British Empire, also held a profound admiration for the intimate knowledge that the native peoples of South Africa whom he encountered had of their environment. In initiating the Scouts he sought to emulate them by integrating such close knowledge with practical survival skills. This includes, for instance, animal tracking, shelter construction, navigation, purposeful - often mildly competitive - activity, co-operative team spirit and a 'conveyor belt'-style hierarchy in which 'packs' would elect leaders from among their ranks as the need arose. He argued that he was simply tapping the natural propensities of young boys (the Girl Guides followed closely, and the turn-of the century gender divide, then seen as necessary, seems to be gradually dissolving). One must be wary of the potential of this combination. The Nazis - also, incidentally, pioneers of organic agriculture - eulogised the forest as being deeply symbolic of German identity (Schama (1995). Chapter 2 - Der Holzweg: The Track Through the Woods). The Hitler Youth and its antecedents thus insisted that, as well as striving to become perfect specimens of physical fitness brought about through serious Alpine hikes, young people should study forest ecology, as well as the heroic nature-influenced Wagnerian mythology of the Aryan peoples, because the German peoples were a species as native to and springing from the forest just as surely as the oak. [An interesting dichotomy arises here over the use of the word 'survivalist'. You may be aware of a popular current television presenter, Ray Mears, whose forte is travelling to wilderness environments and learning all manner of locally-attuned skills from indigenous people - be it curing animal skins to build a canoe or digging out a particularly tasty edible root. However, in North America, 'survivalist' carries an image of a camouflaged, rifle-toting paranoiac holed up in a cabin in the backwoods with a year's supply of tinned rations. Perhaps this is just the above distinction appearing in a different setting.]

These Befriend- and Conquer-nature schools of thought both harbour important lessons which are arguably less powerful when applied in isolation, and whose conjoint power environmental educators now seem to be acknowledging. Both, however, omit a more contemplative, relaxing 'middle way' approach to nature - of being there, but neither seeking to overcome nor analyse and give everything a name. While both the above strands continue to exist, some recently popular methods of education in the environment bring together strands of both: challenging children to feel comfortable while getting muddy, wet and touching slimy creatures and vegetation; yet also at a gentle and appropriate pace introducing names and characteristics of species, ecological maxims and global connections.

These schools of Experiential Environmental Education are exemplified by Joseph Cornell (1989) and Steve van Matre (1990), both of whom have been brought to Scotland in recent years by Scottish Natural Heritage, and whose methods are being applied in both outdoor education and school settings. Among outdoor education at large, it is these latter that bear closest comparison to the ritualistic, quasi-therapeutic exercises of Deep Ecology, aimed primarily at adults, which we will encounter later, and which you have begun to perform with the experiential exercises in this Session. Finally in this Session, read the Chapter of Roszak entitled 'Where Psyche Meets Gaia', near the beginning of the book.

III

Teaching Procedure

1 A. Guided reflection on personal experience in outdoor environment; noting of responses to questions. 1 B. Guided reading of literature on outdoor leisure and experiential environmental education.

IV Key Questions V How prominent, and how important, is an awareness of the non-human world in your everyday life? Do you have a preference for a certain type of place or landscape? Do these issues matter a) to you personally? b) globally? Why? What do 'use' the natural world for? If your relationship with nature was with a human partner, how would you characterise it? Does environmental education work? References

Essential Clinebell, Howard (1996). Ecotherapy [Prelude & Ch 1 - Introduction]. (Photocopy available in Library.) Roszak, T. (1995). Where Psyche Meets Gaia, in Roszak et al (1995).

Recommended Barrows, Anita. The Ecopsychology of Child Development, in Roszak et al (1995). Cohen, Michael (1997). Reconnecting with Nature: Finding wellness through restoring your bond with the Earth. Ecopress. Cornell, Joseph (1989). Sharing the Joy of Nature: Nature Activities for all Ages. Dawn. Outward Bound: www.outwardbound-uk.org Project NatureConnect: www.ecopsych.com (Michael Cohens website) Van Matre, Steve (1990). Earth Education: A New Beginning. Institute for Earth Education. 1

Wilson, E. O. and Kellert, Stephen R. (Eds.) (1993). The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press/Shearwater Books. ********************************** Optional Adams, Cass (Ed.) (1996). The Soul Unearthed: Celebrating Wildness and Personal Renewal Through Nature. Putnam. Ecopsychology Online No 1 - The Ecopsychology Forum. Children, The Earth and Us. http://isis.csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/0996/ecoforum.html Goodall, Jane (1996). In the Shadow of Man. Phoenix. Revised Edition. Mitchell, J.G. (1994). Our National Parks. National Geographic, 186, 2-55. Talbot, J.F. & Kaplan, R. (1984). Needs and fears: the response to trees and nature in the inner city. J. Arboriculture, 10, 222-228. Schama, Simon (1995). Landscape and Memory. Harper Collins.

Session 2. What on Earth is Ecopsychology?

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: an awareness of some historical and philosophical antecedents of our current cultural worldview with regard to nature an understanding of the 'taxonomy' of ecopsychology, and an ability to identify various strands within the field an outline of certain historical and cultural precursors to the emergence of ecopsychology as a 'social movement' a preliminary grasp of how ecopsychology might be located as an emerging 'discipline' in relation to academic fields of psychology and ecology, together with some of its critiques and limitations an appreciation of the antiquity of sentiments about nature and the existence of expressions of this relationship in literature

II

Session Outline

This session aims to explore some of the background and development of thinking that has emerged as the field of ecopsychology, and to introduce an overview of the field and outline of the module. Hence, this session addresses the questions: - why 'ecopsychology'? - where did it come from? - what is its scope? A major founding source was a dialogue between environmentalists and psychologists - particularly therapists - in San Francisco in the early 1990's (an important foundational conference was held in the early 1990s at the renowned California-coast personal development centre Esalen). They reasoned that despite our almost universal acceptance of environmentalism's message - e.g. around 70% of Americans now say they are 'environmentalists' (Kempton et al) - the need for action to match that acceptance was hitting hidden blockages in the psyche. At least some psychopathology evident in therapeutic situations and in collective behaviour overall - which have overwhelmingly been identified as problems of the individual's lack of adjustment to society - is said to be attributable to what might be described as a kind of brokenness in the natural order of things, particularly our mental orientation to the non-human realm. An important critique here is that this whole field is merely a reclothing of romanticism - see later. The term ecopsychology is reputed to have been coined by cultural historian Theodore Roszak [famous in the 1960s for numerous books including The Making of a Counter Culture, and 1

Person/Planet] in his 1993 book The Voice of the Earth. In it he addresses Western culture's "longstanding, historical gulf between the psychological and the ecological", and criticises the intrapsychic orientation of traditional psychology as part of our 'urban madness'. In cities, alienation from nature and others is, he claims, rife. Our 'ecological unconscious', which he describes as representing "the living records of cosmic evolution, tracing back to distant initial conditions in the history of time", is ignored by modern psychiatry (Winter 1996). Roszak, however, provides scant empirical evidence for his assertions. Keepin (1991) suggests that ecopsychology involves enquiring into the human and cultural roots of environmental destruction, and that this leads us inexorably to fundamental questions about our cultural values, psychology, ethics, spirituality, philosophy and history that are normally beyond the scope of mainstream environmental science or psychology. He raises difficult questions such as "What is it that is so important to us that we seem willing to pursue activities that threaten the survival of life on this planet to get it? Why do we continue these activities even when realising their consequences? What does this tell us about society and human nature - what is our true nature? What matters most deeply to us, and is our society in accord with our true nature and deepest values?" (Keepin 1991). In pursuing enquiry into these matters ecopsychology therefore cannot but take note of a wide variety of attempted but inadequate answers from existing disciplines, as well as developing its own particular mode of enquiry (make sure you explore the EcopsychologyWeb site for a great many more detailed connections between ecopsychology and other antecedent disciplines beyond the purely psychological).

Definitions and Principles of Ecopsychology What exactly is ecopsychology? There are many views and definitions of ecopsychology, and as a young field it is still in the early stages of evolution and exploration. Various people have attempted definitions, including Roszak himself (1992), who ascribes the eight principles reproduced below (also in the article by Reser, 1995), and the Shavano Institute (formerly the Colorado Institute for a Sustainable Future), also below.

ECOPSYCHOLOGY - THE PRINCIPLES [from Roszak, T. (1992). The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology. Epilogue, pp. 319321.] Our scientists seek a Grand Unified Theory that will embrace all things, all forces, all time and matter. In the past they have found no place for themselves in that unity. But their painstaking study of nature over the generations -a labor of honest inquiry and intellectual passion - has finally given the questing mind a significant status in the universe. What unity ultimately requires is closure. The circle of scientific theory comes round like the alchemical snake that bites its tail. What is must at last be known. Perhaps that is what underlies the eager unfolding of the natural hierarchy from the Big Bang to the human frontier: substance reaching out hungrily toward sentience. 1

Oddly, this seems to have been better known by prescientific humans who worked from myth, image, ritual. If ecopsychology has anything to add to the Socratic-Freudian project of selfknowledge, it is to remind us of what our ancestors took to be common knowledge: there is more to know about the self, or rather more self to know, than our personal history reveals. Making a personality, the task that Jung called "individuation," may be the adventure of a lifetime. But the person is anchored within a greater, universal identity. Salt remnants of ancient oceans flow through our veins, ashes of expired stars rekindle in our genetic chemistry. The oldest of the atoms, hydrogen-whose primacy among the elements should have gained it a more poetically resonant name - is a cosmic theme; mysteriously elaborated billions-fold, it has created from Nothing the Everything that includes us. When we look out into the night sky, the stars we see in the chill, receding distance may seem crushingly vast in size and number. But the swelling emptiness that contains them is, precisely by virtue of its magnitude, the physical matrix that makes living intelligence possible. Those who believed we were cradled in the hands of God have not been so very wrong. All this belongs to the principles of ecopsychology, but not in any doctrinaire or purely clinical way. Psychiatry is best played by ear. It is after all a matter of listening to the whole person, all that is submerged, unborn, in hiding: the infant, the shadow, the savage. The list of principles we finish with here is merely a guide, suggesting how deep that listening must go to hear the Self that speaks through the self. 1. The core of the mind is the ecological unconscious. For ecopsychology, repression of the ecological unconscious is the deepest root of collusive madness in industrial society; open access to the ecological unconscious is the path to sanity. 2. The contents of the ecological unconscious represent, in some degree, at some level of mentality, the living record of cosmic evolution, tracing back to distant initial conditions in the history of time. Contemporary studies in the ordered complexity of nature tell us that life and mind emerge from this evolutionary tale as culminating natural systems within the unfolding sequence of physical, biological, mental, and cultural systems we know as "the universe." Ecopsychology draws upon these findings of the new cosmology, striving to make them real to experience.

3. Just as it has been the goal of previous therapies to recover the repressed contents of the unconscious, so the goal of ecopsychology is to awaken the inherent sense of environmental reciprocity that lies within the ecological unconscious. Other therapies seek to heal the alienation between person and person, person and family, person and society. Ecopsychology seeks to heal the more fundamental alienation between the person and the natural environment. 4 For ecopsychology, as for other therapies, the crucial stage of development is the life of the child. The ecological unconscious is regenerated, as if it were a gift, in the newborn's enchanted sense of the world. Ecopsychology seeks to recover the child's innately animistic quality of experience in functionally "sane" adults. To do this, it turns to many sources, among them the traditional healing techniques of primary people, nature mysticism as expressed in religion and art, the experience of wilderness, the insights of Deep Ecology. It adapts these to the goal of creating the ecological ego 5 The ecological ego matures toward a sense of ethical responsibility with the planet that is as vividly experienced as our ethical responsibility to other people. It seeks to weave that responsibility into the fabric of social relations and political decisions. 1

6 Among the therapeutic projects most important to ecopsychology is the re-evaluation of certain compulsively "masculine" character traits that permeate our structures of political power and which drive us to dominate nature as if it were an alien and rightless realm. In this regard, ecopsychology draws significantly on some (not all) of the insights of ecofeminism and Feminist Spirituality with a view to demystifying the sexual stereotypes. 7 Whatever contributes to small scale social forms and personal empowerment nourishes the ecological ego. Whatever strives for large-scale domination and the suppression of personhood undermines the ecological ego. Ecopsychology therefore deeply questions the essential sanity of our gargantuan urban-industrial culture, whether capitalistic or collectivistic in its organization. But it does so without necessarily rejecting the technological genius of our species or some life-enhancing measure of the industrial power we have assembled. Ecopsychology is postindustrial not anti-industrial in its social orientation. 8 Ecopsychology holds that there is a synergistic interplay between planetary and personal well-being. The term "synergy" is chosen deliberately for its traditional theological connotation, which once taught that the human and divine are cooperatively linked in the quest for salvation. The contemporary ecological translation of the term might be: the needs of the planet are the needs of the person, the rights of the person are the rights of the planet.

The Foundations of Ecopsychology [From the Satyana Institute: http://www.satyana.org/html/principles.html#ecopsych2 1. The Earth is a living system. Human beings are fundamentally interconnected with the earth and with all life. Neither the Earth's problems or humanitys can be resolved without taking full account of this interconnection. 2. Ecopsychology seeks to heal the alienation between person and planet, and to establish a healthy relationship between the two. The needs of the person are the same as the needs of the planet. The rights of the person are the same as the rights of the planet. 3. Rather than viewing the ecological dilemma as a crisis "out there", in our physical environment, Ecopsychology recognizes that human consciousness is intricately involved in creating and healing the ecological crisis. We are in a crisis of "soul" and "spirit". There is a "screaming" link between pervasive personal dysfunction and the ecological crisis. 4. Ecopsychology calls for a new cosmology that embraces scientific models and understandings, spiritual teachings, ancient wisdom, and the land-based and non-Western knowledge of indigenous cultures. 5. Ecopsychology calls for a profound revisioning of mental health and human consciousness. Today's dominant models of human consciousness and therapy are pathogenic and define the human being as an isolated, separate entity living in a purposeless, mechanical universe. A new vision of sanity and a new reality principle is needed. The psychology professions and the redefinition of sanity and mental health. Finding a larger context for its theory and practice: including the biosphere and Gaia. Hillman analogy of doing therapy in the below cabin of a sinking ship. Developing a sense of relational mutuality, a feel for permeable boundaries where we recognize that we are the 1

world and the world is on fire. There is only one core issue for all of psychology. Where is the me? Where does the "me" begin, stop? Where does the "other" begin? Where does psyche stop and matter begin? The deepest levels of the psyche merge with the biological body (Freud) and the physical stuff of the world (Jung). The cut between the self and natural world is arbitrary. An individual's harmony with his/her "own deep self" requires both a journey to the interior and a harmonizing with the environmental world. 6. The drive to live in harmony with the natural world and its rhythms is deeply imbedded within us. Suppression of that drive is just as disorienting and damaging as suppression of other human needs. The core of the mind is the ecological unconscious and suppression of this is the deepest root of madness in industrial society; open access to the ecological unconscious is the path to sanity. Wild, essential self must be recognized. The merger of psyche and nature has implications. The "bad" place I am in may refer not only to a depressed mood, it may refer to a sealed up office, a set-apart suburban subdivision, or the traffic jam I commute in between the two. 7. The very notion of sanity must be redefined to include our planetary home. Today's psychology and therapy "stop at the city limits, as if the soul might be saved while the biosphere crumbles". we need an environmentally based definition of mental health. What would a psychology look like that is based on an ecocentric worldview rather than an egocentric one? By helping people adapt to a destructive society, are we doing more harm than good? Ecopsychology is an effort to salvage the more intimate bond between the ego and the world about it as the raw material of a new reality principle. The self with a permeable boundary whose skin and behavior are soft zones contacting the world instead of excluding it. The psyche is rooted inside a greater intelligence once known as the anima mundi. At its deepest level, the psyche remains sympathetically bonded to the Earth that brought us into existence. 8. Ecopsychology embraces the goals of gender equality, racial equality, and cultural justice (honoring and learning from non-western cultures and indigenous peoples of the world). Multi-culturalism is a key foundation of this field. Ecopsychology's success will depend upon its ability to construct a genuinely multicultural self and a global society without racism. The field is limited now to its Eurocentric perspective and The Wonder Breading of America. 9. Ecopsychology deeply questions the essential sanity of our gargantuan urban-industrial culture, whether capitalistic or collectivistic in its organization. But it does so without necessarily rejecting the technological genius of our species or some life-enhancing measure of the industrial power we have assembled. EP is post-industrial, not antiindustrial in its social orientation. Each stage of human development and progress must transcend and include the previous stages and understandings.

Mapping the ecopsychology territory These areas are commonly considered to be within the scope of ecopsychology: 1. Health and wellbeing - questions of sanity/insanity, therapeutic issues, and the idea that perhaps the earth 'speaks' through us. It considers the psychological interdependence of planet and 2

psyche. Human health and wellbeing is profoundly affected by the larger context of the earth as a living system. Conversely, the state of the human psyche has profound implications for the health of the earth: what, for instance, would an environmentally based definition of mental health look like? There is a focus on personal healing, and the idea of 'nature as healer', which uses therapeutic modalities for reconnecting with nature, ecotherapy, experiential deep ecology etc. 2. Wilderness work - includes direct experience of nature, the opportunity to extricate ourselves from the influence of culture, the idea of receiving wisdom from the earth, connecting with earth, e.g. through the 'vision quest' or wilderness experience. Psychological dimensions of the environmental situation, considering deeper reasons than the agreed 'causes' of environmental crises and environmentally destructive behaviour. This includes exploring relevant psychological models and theories, and also draws on history and philosophy to understand the context and antecedents to our current cultural and economic position.

3.

4.

Historical and philosophical perspectives on culture. The influence of dualism - the culturally constructed schism between psychological and ecological, human and nature, mind and body. The collective unconscious. The importance of recognising the worldview that we live in: as the saying goes, 'the fish does not know the water in which it swims'. 5. Transdisciplinary dialogue: Ecopsychology can be seen as a transdisciplinary field, drawing on perspectives from a broad range of fields including environmental psychology, anthropology, archaeology, economics, philosophy, ecofeminism etc. 6. Action and activism: Includes psychological work with environmental activists, considering ways that psychological and spiritual wisdom can help prevent burnout and encourage 'compassionate' activism. Also ways to develop our own practices, environmental contribution and behaviour aimed at bringing about change. Cross cultural perspectives: examining the influences of cultural conditioning, and exploring the relationships between humans and the natural world in other cultures.

7.

In such a brief time scale, it is only possible to give an overview of the field and to look more deeply at selected areas. Hence, not all of the above are covered in the same depth in this Module. You are broadly encouraged to follow the guidance herein, and to follow your own interests in further reading for assessments. These perspectives are also likely to affect the way in which you view material in other Modules. Those with a particular interest in a thesis utilising ecopsychology are advised to continue investigating issues raised here as they make that progression. This session now focuses in on 4. Historical and philosophical perspectives on culture, to explore different views of the antecedents to both our current cultural worldview and environmental 'predicament', including critical perspectives on this, and how the field of ecopsychology may not be so new after all.

Historical antecedents A reminder of three stages of alienation from the natural world (mentioned in Core Modules and reiterated here as a reminder): 1. Cosmological alienation. Some suggest that this began with Copernicus and the realisation that the Earth was not after all the centre of the universe, leading to a shift in our notion of order (divine order) and hence in our status as humans from central to peripheral. Concurrently, a shift from circular time (of the Middle Ages and before) to secular time, advanced by Enlightenment science, bred a growing disenchantment and, to an extent, alienation from those sources which had previously provided the self with a sense of meaning and embeddedness. The resulting view of humankind existing on a lonely, now disenchanted, planet in a vast cosmos could no longer easily support the experience of a privileged existence sanctified by a supernatural metaphysic. 2. Ontological alienation - Descartes et al. In the pursuit of indubitable first principles, Descartes applied a method of systematic doubt to everything. He found the only thing immune to this doubt was the fact of his doubting he could not doubt that he doubted. Since to doubt is to think and that, because the certainty of his bodily senses and even his body itself could be doubted, to think becomes an incorporeal activity. Consequently, Descartes first principle, his I think therefore I am (cogito ergo sum) is identified and defined in contrast to non-thinking, corporeal things. Thus the self came to be understood as a distinct and separate entity. Moreover the price paid, we learn in hindsight, for the achievement of certainty in this way was the divorcing of consciousness from all non-human things (because thinking requires consciousness) to whom, because they are allegedly not conscious, we owe little or no moral obligation. While not initiatory, his philosophy is certainly thought to be instrumental in legitimising the ever greater manipulation and mastery of nature (though this was not Descartes intent it was to defend the preserve of the mind from the advance of mechanistic science) and in formalising the dualism between mind and body (which has its origins at least as far back as the Christian body-soul dualism). 3. Epistemological alienation Kant. Human mind only has access to its own experience; therefore it can't know the world as it is, only as it is perceived by the mind. One can't know things in themselves, only as they appear (phenomena). What gives order to our experience are what Kant calls the categories of the mind (cause & effect, time & space etc). Although we can acquire accurate knowledge relative to our categories, Kant thought there is no ultimate sanction for the authority of our categories themselves (because the categories for other animals is likely to be different from our own, their experience of the world is likely to differ also). Therefore what we know has ultimately no objective basis in reality. Therefore we cant directly know nature in itself, but only relative to our categories which make sense of our experience of nature as it appears to us. It has been suggested that the victory of Christianity over paganism is the greatest psychic revolution in the history of our culture. White (1967) suggests that Christianity is the world's most anthropocentric religion and established a dualism of human and nature, insisting that God intends that people should exploit and dominate nature. Note the parallel here between this theory (of the change from a world inexplicable except by the presence of other, inaccessible beings {'the forces of nature'} to one we can explain and understand) and theories of the birth of self-consciousness as a growing confidence in 2

human agency as the once unified right and left brains began to take contrasting perspectives, and we realised that thunder, for instance, may not be caused by displeased gods (Jaynes 1990). And also the creation myth of Eve breaking the spell of the idyllic, all-providing Garden of Eden, forever condemning humanity to live outside in an antagonistic world (Genesis 2:8-3:24). So in some senses, blaming Bacon and Descartes, or even 'science' for the idea that humans are to be considered apart from nature is to lock the stable door after the horse has bolted. If we accept the above then the transition was already millennia old and we have come up with a variety of post hoc explanations. Addressing the question of 'man's place in nature', humans were seen in the Great Chain of Being as half way between bugs at the bottom and God at the top. Many argue that the notion of the individual mind as a unitary entity didn't crystallise in Western thought until 1800, and was linked to the rise of capitalism and economic individualism, and the breakdown of earlier collective society and structures. However there are those who critique these views, e.g. Axelrod & Suedfeld (1995); Moncrief, L.(1970). [The Appendix on God and Modern Cosmology in Roszak (1992) is thorough, should you wish to explore this avenue more deeply.] One antecedent: nature in literature Although ecopsychology as a field is a relatively new creation, the subject matter itself is probably as old as the human species (Roszak 1995, pp5-8). Certainly, many of the major themes that are central within ecopsychology have been expressed extensively in literature, both contemporary and classic (e.g. ancient Greece), across different epochs and cultures. The classic poetic example in the western tradition is the Romantics, such as the Lake poets (e.g. Wordsworth) and Whitman, but there are very many others including de la Mare, Keats and Blake. (One critique of romanticism is that it tends to forget that even among hunter-gatherers Nature was often portrayed as a fiendish force that was full of horrors and required constant "propitiation".) Among nature and wilderness prose writers Thoreau, Emerson, Berry, Snyder and van der Post are preeminent in the west, Tagore significant in the east. You may like to explore two examples of this literature from different eras and/or cultures: perhaps choose a poem or passage of prose that particularly speaks to you, and be prepared to talk about it. You may even feel inspired to write something yourself! (See Gardner (1998); McGann (1994).)

III

Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature, plus exploration of nature prose and poetry.

IV

Key Questions How useful are the Roszak and Satyana definitions of ecopsychology? How comprehensive? How does our Western worldview shape our beliefs and behaviour in relation to the use or abuse of nature? What have been some of the key formative influences (e.g. social, political, philosophical, etc.) in the creation of ecopsychology? In what ways could the 'ecopsychological' view of historical roots be critiqued? How 'accurate' is it, how might someone argue against this? Why do people write about nature? Are they writing about nature as it really is, or are they describing archetypes in the human psyche?

References

Essential Roszak (1995). Chapter: Where Psyche Meets Gaia. Winter (1996). Chapter 2: The 'Nature' of Western Thought. Recommended *Axelrod & Suedfeld (1995) Technology, Capitalism and Christianity: are they really the three horsemen of the eco-collapse? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 183-195. Esalen conference web site. Fisher A. (1996). Toward a more radical ecopsychology. Alternatives Journal, 22(3), 20-26. * Greenway, R What is Ecopsychology? www.ecopsychology.org/gatherings/what.htm * Greenway, R The multiple approaches to ecopsychology: one view. www.ecopsychology.org/gatherings2/greenway.htm * Keepin (1991) Toward an ecological psychology. ReVision, 14 (2), 90-101. Moncrief, L. (1970). The Cultural Basis for Our Environmental Crisis. Science, 508-512. Roszak, T. (1992). The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology. Roszak, T. Ecopsychology - Eight Principles. Ecopsychology Online, 5. http://isis.csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/0398/intro.htm * Scull, J Ecopsychology, where does it fit in psychology? www.island.net/~jscull/ecointro.htm Scull J The separation from more-than-human nature. www.island.net/~jscull/separate.htm Satyana Institute: Principles of Deep Ecology and Ecopsychology: http://www.satyana.org/html/principles.html#ecopsych2 Shepard, Paul (1982) Nature and Madness. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. * Winter (1996). Chapter 7: Holistic Approaches; Gestalt and Transpersonal Psychology. [Especially section on Ecopsychology.]

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Optional Auden, W. H. (1901). Poets of the English Language, Vol. 4: Romantic Poets: Blake to Poe. The Bible. Genesis. Gardner, J. (1998). The Sacred Earth: Writers on Nature & Spirit. * Greenway, R Ecopsychology: A personal history. http:/www.ecopsychology.org/gatherings/personal.htm Kempton, Willett et al (1996). Environmental Values in American Culture. MIT Press. [Cognitive anthropological treatise on increasing environmental concern among Americans, using semi-structured interview protocol, and focussing on beliefs, values and cultural models.] McGann, Jerome (1994). The New Oxford Book of Romantic Period Verse. Oxford UP. Nature writers (American) links: www.asle.umn.edu/archive/library.html * Reser, J P (1995). Whither Environmental Psychology? The Transpersonal Ecopsychology Crossroads. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 235-257. [a useful critical perspective, can be left till later.] * Tarnas, R. (1991) The Passion of the Western Mind: understanding the ideas that have shaped our world view. Pimlico. Thoreau: http://eserver.org/thoreau/thoreau.html * White, L. (1967). The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis. Science, 155, 1203-1207. Jaynes, J. (1990). The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.

Session 3.

Evolutionary & Cross-cultural Perspectives

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: An understanding of the roots of evolutionary psychology and its links with other disciplines An appreciation of the principal models within evolutionary psychology as it relates to nature A particular knowledge of the Biophilia and Savannah Hypotheses A knowledge of certain relevant theories of child development and human patterns of living and their relation to western and other human lifestyles An awareness that attitudes to the environment are therefore biologically, culturally and historically situated and shaped II Session Outline

Evolutionary psychology arose out of - some say is merely a rebadging of - sociobiology (Wilson 1975), which itself is a strand of neo-Darwinism (Dawkins 1976). Stemming from Wilson's eponymous seminal book, it was a coming together of ethology (animal behaviour) and evolutionary biology, linked to game theory including resource foraging computer models (e.g. the famous Prisoner's Dilemma). Despite the fact that Wilson was writing almost entirely about animals and included only 20-odd pages on humans, sociobiology - the idea that to some undetermined but critical extent our behaviour, indeed perhaps the whole structure of human society, was biologically shaped - provoked a furore within the social sciences. Many objectors, particularly feminist writers, said Wilson was a reactionary trying to provide evidence for such political views: for example, to justify male domination. He had intruded upon a sacred cow, the notion that the child is born with a blank mind - the 'tabula rasa' - which is then shaped by culture. This is known as the standard social science model. It seems a much less contentious idea now, but the term still holds bad connotations for some. However out of it was born evolutionary psychology - which ironically has within its ranks feminist supporters. This holds that, far from the brain being a general purpose computer supplied without software and just waiting for western - or any other - culture to install its territory-specific version of an all-singing all-dancing operating system, it is in fact far more like a series of highly efficient specialist computers with embedded functionality - more like the silicon chip in your watch or washing machine - evolved to accomplish certain survival-critical tasks well. This is known - for obvious reasons - as the Swiss Army knife model (Barkow et al 1995; Chapters 1 & 2). [Among the most important pieces of evidence one can find for an evolutionary origin to a behaviour or function is its near or complete universality. Even a few clear-cut exceptions can throw serious doubt on a genetic or innate attribution. So, for instance, it is hard to contradict the hypothesis that males are genetically, on average, equipped for greater physical exertion than females, given the near universality of human sexual dimorphism. Similarly, one might postulate that since virtually all documented human societies accept polygamy (though it is more often than not an exception for individuals), this behaviour may have a genetic basis. On the other hand, slavery seems to be sporadic and historically and geographically exceptional, and is therefore probably social in origin] The ball now seems increasingly in the court of the deniers of such evolutionary explanations to offer 2

more powerful hypotheses since it seems increasingly clear that certain patterns of human behaviour are to varying degrees 'innate'. For instance the psychologist and anthropologist Robin Dunbar has gathered an interestingly diverse portfolio of evidence for the notion that there is a 'natural' human group size, which is somehow related to our cognitive capacities. Evidence from group sizes among primates versus cranial capacity, from archaeology, military history, the organisation of corporate divisions, indigenous peoples, academic sub-specialisations and tests of name recall appears to suggest that a group size of around 150 people is what we naturally cleave to - and indeed, when a group becomes as large as 200, splitting often occurs. In other words, the 'tribe' may be within us (Dunbar 1993). Some go further, suggesting that not only are our broad patterns of behaviour strongly shaped by evolution but also our morality (Wright 1994), including such notions as reciprocal altruism (otherwise known as mutuality) (Ridley 1996). The 'Bible' of evolutionary psychology argues for a great range of evolved behavioural predispositions, including those concerned with co-operation, sex, parental care and language (Barkow et al 1995). Of particular interest to us are evolved reactions or predispositions with regard to the natural world - colours (Chapter 13), spatial abilities (Chapter 14), and landscapes and aesthetics (Chapters 15 & 16). Fascinatingly, even evidence for what have long been regarded as scientifically discredited Freudian ideas is beginning to be gathered (Chapter 17). The psychology of human origins Palaeontologists speculate that human origins were probably in the Rift Valley of east Africa (based on increasingly confirmed fossil and genetic evidence that Homo species are recorded first there, and successively appear to have migrated during antiquity to the Middle East and hence onward to east Asia, Australasia, and the Americas via the Bering Straight (see Mithen). Combining that with the known habitat preferences of our nearest primate cousins (chimpanzees, gorillas, orang utans) for forest, the (contentious) suggestion is that over evolutionary timescales protohumans 'came down from the trees' at the edge of the jungle, where it intersected with the dotted-tree and open prospects of the plains - hence the savannah hypothesis. Exploiting this new habitat, it is postulated, was aided by faster (bipedal) locomotion, steroscopic (eyes side-by-side) vision, troupe living (mutual protection) and increased cranial capacity (for better recognition and memorisation of predators and prey, etc.). One body of apparently confirmatory evidence is that of preference studies, whose pioneers Kaplan & Kaplan have examined this question exhaustively, and suggest as a result that open, tree-dotted parkland is an almost universal preference (although there has apparently been no testing within cultures to whom trees may be alien - e.g. Inuit). This is known as the Savannah hypothesis - Savannah being the open, rolling east African plains dotted with shade-giving Acacia trees, water holes and both predators and prey for protohumans. Psycho-evolutionary theory Ulrich et al (1991) tested his psycho-evolutionary theory which hypothesised that natural scenes reduce stress more than human-made ones. In experiments with films of different scenes, he provided some evidence for this view (see fuller explanation in Session 4). Some have suggested that natural scenes may be processed more easily and efficiently because the brain and sensory systems evolved in natural environments (e.g. Wohlwill 1983) but this evolutionary mechanism is lacking for urban environments 2

which thus place greater demands on processing resources. Biophilia hypothesis The best experimental evidence for Edward Wilson's theory (1984) that we have an innate love of living things is biophobia in primates, although its advocates admit that much of what they claim is circumstantial corroboration (Chapter 3 in Kellert & Wilson 1993). Having said this, it has to be acknowledged that among environmental psychologists at least, the prevailing wisdom seems to be that attitudes to nature are primarily learned, which may be something to do with the fact that many of them are basically social psychologists (who therefore see social influences as primary). Broadly speaking, it is a view shared by most anthropologists. It is an issue we will revisit. One point to note though is that through what some would claim is a 'hard' scientific method, biologists like Wilson and others have arrived at an essentially deep ecological view, which is probably more commonly approached through a spiritual path.

Culture and Attitudes to Nature Finally, to reinforce the point that not all cultures relate to nature in the same way, and that this phenomenon is not just one of differing location but also differing history and cultural circumstances, we can examine experience here in Scotland. The way we relate to the natural world today is shaped by complex influences including, critically, history. Hunter (1995) demonstrates through poetic and other writings that the ancient Celtic attitude to nature was, in modern terms, far more ecocentric than ours. The historic Celtic worldview has been compared to that of various indigenous peoples, insofar as both animals (Saunders 1995) and plants (Bishop 1990) saturate their mythologies and shamanic traditions. These quasi-religious insights or illusions, depending on your point of view (see Ridley, Chapter 11 for the more cynical view), which are said by many to contribute to sound relationship with the environment, have not been completely lost to modern peoples. Cultures universally seem to create stories - cosmologies - to explain 'natural' phenomena (e.g. feng shui as an example of the psychology of building design), which become codified into religious observances, belief systems and hence taboos on activity (Anderson 1996). However much we may look for innateness as a basis for understanding our relations with the natural world, it will never be a complete explanation of the particular circumstances and nuances of a culture's or indeed an individual's - relations to nature. (Think of the analogy of the wind. Evolved predispositions may be like a light breeze - it's not that it is impossible to walk into the wind, but it is harder.) Whether the overall tenor of a culture's relations with nature (and indeed with itself and with other cultures) is shaped by the state of the environment around it (e.g. are mountain people always insular?), and by the degree and pattern of interaction (for example, whether a people living by the sea shore would 'invent' a different kind of relationship to those to whom the sea shore is something they go to visit at weekends) is again something we will return to.

III

Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature, plus group tutorial.

IV

Key Questions

'Evolutionary psychology limits our freedom of choice.' Discuss. What evidence is there in modern urban living for the savannah hypothesis? 'There is no evidence for biophilia.' Discuss. 'Violence is in our genes'. Discuss. Is there a natural order for human life, and have we broken it? What is the significance of ideas from evolutionary psychology to ecopsychological thinking? What are the implications?

V Essential

References

Bell, Paul; Fisher, Jeffrey; Baum, Andrew; Greene, Thomas (1996). Environmental Psychology. 4th edition. [pp. 39-41 important; pp. 30-38 less so] Hunter, James (1995). On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands. Mainstream. [Chapter 3 most relevant here] Kellert, Stephen R. and Wilson, E. O. (Eds.) (1993). The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press/Shearwater Books. [the whole book is excellent and can be fruitfully dipped into at random, but make sure to read Chapters 1 & 2, pp 33-69] Recommended Anderson, Eugene (1996). Ecologies of the Heart: Emotion, Belief and the Environment. Oxford UP [Much is relevant - for instance how the author sees the Chinese art of Feng Shui as codified environmental sense; Chapter 4 particularly addresses how sustainable behaviour becomes religion] Kaplan, Rachel & Kaplan, Stephen (1989). The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. [evidence for what sort of nature people prefer - interesting here, essential later on] Liedloff, Jean (1989). The Continuum Concept. [trust the natural pattern - children need to be able to explore but always return to base to be held, critically against the skin] Pearce, Joseph (1992). Magical Child. [idea of the maturational environment being an ever expanding matrix - which derives from the word for mother - beginning with the womb and moving through the earth and beyond] Saunders, Nicholas (1995). Animal Spirits. [brief, stunningly illustrated] Wilson, E. (1984). Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species. [the original statement of the idea]

********************************** Optional 2

Barkow, Cosmides & Tooby (1995). The Adapted Mind. [big bible of evolutionary psychology; not easy but foundational for pursuing this field] Bishop, Peter (1990). The Greening of Psychology: The Vegetable World in Myth, Dream and Healing. Dawkins, Richard (1976). The Selfish Gene. [much cited] Dunbar, R. I. M. (1993). Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (4): 681-735. (Unedited preprint available at: http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.dunbar.html) Jackson, Peter (1989). Maps of Meaning. [Cultural geography - meaning arises through social processes and discourses such as gender, race, ideology; little consciousness of the natural world, and hostility to the suggestion that reactions to spaces and places might be to some extent innate] Metzner, Ralph (1999). Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth. Mithen, S. (1996). The Prehistory of the Mind. Thames & Hudson. Ridley, Matt (1996). The Origins of Virtue. [As it says on the cover, The Selfish Gene as applied to humans] Shepard, Paul (Ed) (1996). The Only World We've Got. A Paul Shepard reader. Sierra Club. Wilson, E. (1975). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Wright, Robert (1994). The Moral Animal: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. [How and why our behaviour and morality are legacies of evolution, using Darwin's life as a case study]

Session 4.

Environmental Psychology and our Reactions to the World Around Us

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: An appreciation of the scope and orientation of environmental psychology as a field and how it integrates with ecopsychology Reviewed some of the research on the relationship between psychological wellbeing and the natural environment Understood some theories about possible mechanisms mediating this relationship II Session Outline

[If ecopsychology has a natural footing in 'respectable', empirical psychology, it may be in environmental psychology (a contentious opinion - many US ecopsychologists would disagree and place it more squarely in psychotherapy). In working through this Session, the critical activity is to make sure you are properly familiar with the overall scope of the field in addition to the specialist areas identified below. This is best done by dipping into at least one and if possible more environmental psychology textbooks. It will pay dividends in later understanding.] The field of environmental psychology is one of the closest 'mainstream' disciplines that is relevant to or overlaps with some of the concerns within ecopsychology, yet there is as yet conspicuously little communication between the two fields (Bragg 1997). This session offers an introduction to and outline of strands of environmental psychology that are important to ecopsychology. It considers a body of research into human-nature interactions that relates to some issues discussed in ecopsychology. Environmental psychology developed as a distinct area within psychology at the end of the 1950s and 1960s in the USA with landmark studies by Festinger et al (1950) and Lewin (1951) on how the design of buildings affected behaviour. However its origins can be traced back to studies before the first World War (see Bell et al pp. 10-11). Although interest was initially in the physical aspect of the built environment, e.g. with research into how architectural setting of a psychiatric hospital can affect patients' behaviour, this later expanded into the larger issue of the interrelationship between human behaviour and the socio-physical environment in general. However, though centres now exist around the world they are few and far between and the mainstream of psychology has shown little interest, being more consumed with intrapsychic and especially behavioural and latterly cognitive processes. Although there tends to be an emphasis on the built environment, architectural design, and the effects of transient environmental conditions like noise, light, crowding, weather and climate, there are also strands within environmental psychology that consider questions such as how people are affected by nonhuman nature. Increasingly, and conspicuously somewhat late in the day, some environmental psychologists are directly addressing questions of how people's attitudes and behaviour impact on the wider global environment, and the implications of this for the environmental crisis. 3

Environmental psychology thus considers the environment at two levels: the context of behaviour, i.e. how the environment may determine or influence our moods and behaviour and; the consequences of behaviour on the environment - including the impact of human behaviour on wider and global environment problems. This is a bi-directional relationship: environment affects behaviour, behaviour affects environment. Environment-behaviour interrelationships thus need to be studied as units to see the whole picture, leading commonly to somewhat more systemic analyses of situations than in some other fields of study. Areas of environmental psychology most relevant to ecopsychology 1. Environmental attitudes. What influences our environmental attitudes? Are our reactions to nature innate, or the result of individual learning and culture? Attitudes may not necessarily predict behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen1975) and they may even follow behaviour (Bem 1971). Considered in the next session. 2. Changing behaviour. Considered in the next session. 3. Emotion and environment - including the 'sense of place &/or belonging. 4. Natural disasters - effects and responses. Environmental psychology studies how disasters affect and are coped with by humans, and tries to draw a distinction between those disasters that are due to natural forces and catastrophes that are created by actions of humans. It also looks at the effects of toxic exposure and air pollution (Bell Chapter 7). Considered in the next session. 5. Research on restorative settings, or the role of natural environment in human health.

If we take the example of behaviour which creates pollution, environmental psychology might for instance draw from the rest of psychology principles of learning, motivation, perception, attitude formation and social interaction to help explain why people engage in and accept such behaviour. Principles of developmental psychology, social psychology, abnormal psychology and physiological psychology are utilised to help explain, for instance, the negative effects of pollution on humans. Research on attitude change, behaviour modification, social behaviour and personality may indicate steps needed to change behaviour to reduce the pollution. Natural environment and wellbeing Many cultures express the idea that exposure to nature enhances psychological well being. Many writers and scientists have suggested that reduced contact with nature may contribute to higher rates of certain pathologies in urban compared to rural populations (e.g. Shepard 1982). This 'nature benefit assumption' underlies the establishment of most urban parks and landscaping programmes. Indeed, the belief that exposure to nature facilitates restoration from the stresses of urban life dates back to ancient Rome and the earliest large cities. Although it may seem obvious, and empirical studies confirm the restorative potential of natural 3

compared to urban or other settings, the reasons are not well understood. There is much empirical support that viewing unthreatening nature fosters stress recovery. Many research studies have investigated the physical and psychological benefits of visual exposure to nature, such as having a natural view from a window rather than a view of the built environment. Comparing anxiety-reducing effects of views of nature or urban scenes, Ulrich (1979) found that nature views significantly improved the emotional states of stressed individuals, but exposure to urban scenes detracted from emotional wellbeing. The same author also showed that slides of natural views of water and vegetation held participants' attention and interest more effectively than urban scenes (1981). Honeyman (1990) replicated this experiment and found that recovery was also aided by a composite scene of an urban view that included vegetation, compared to an urban only scene. In one of the most cited pieces of research in the whole field of (possibly because of the prestige of the journal that published it, alongside the potential impact of the work on the heavily cost-controlled US healthcare system), Ulrich (1983) demonstrated that patients with a view of nature from their hospital window made faster postoperative recovery from surgery, with shorter stays in hospital, fewer requests for painkillers, and more favourable evaluation by nurses. Prisoners with a view of farmland from their window showed less frequent stress symptoms such as digestive problems and headaches, and made fewer reports to sick bay (e.g. Moore 1982, West 1985). Dental patients showed less anxiety and stress as measured by heart rate and self-reported affect when a nature mural was hung on the facing wall, compared to a blank wall (Heerwagen 1990). Kaplan et al (1988) compared office workers with a view of trees and flowers, built elements or no view, and found that those with a nature view reported lower perceived job stress, higher job satisfaction and fewer headaches. Leather et al (1998) found that nature views buffered the negative impact of job stress on intention to quit and had a marginal moderating effect on general well-being, reducing tension and feeling up-tight. It is notable that natural environments are frequently used in stress management relaxation techniques (Kaplan & Kaplan 1989).

Theories of nature and mental fatigue The main theories proposed emphasise either stress reduction or recovering the capacity to focus attention. Attempting to integrate these conflicting positions, Kaplan (1995) proposes an integrative framework that places both directed attention and stress in the larger context of human-environment relationships. Attention Restoration Theory This view of the relationship between nature and mental fatigue suggests that under increased demands for attention that requires mental effort, people's capacity to direct attention may become fatigued as focus is normally maintained by inhibiting distractions, and attentional restoration is needed for effective functioning to be restored. Kaplan & Kaplan (1989) suggest that attentional fatigue results from overuse of the neural mechanism that underlies the capacity to inhibit competing stimuli. 3

They suggested that exposure to the natural environment may help maintain or restore the capacity to direct attention when fatigued, through a setting characterised by four features: a) fascination, involving an effortless or spontaneous attention; b) a sense of being away, or 'escape' to a place that is physically or conceptually different; c) sufficient extent or scope in a setting rich enough to engage the mind and become immersed; d) compatibility with individual inclinations or purposes, reducing the need for directed attention. Although many settings have features of a restorative environment, natural settings are considered to offer all of them. Hartig et al (1991) compared proof-reading scores for three groups of experienced backpackers. One group went on a wilderness trip, one on an urban vacation and the third had no vacation. Only the wilderness vacationers showed improved scores. Tennessen & Cimprich (1995) found that university dormitory residents with natural views showed better performance on attentional measures, showing initial support for this theory, though the study had a number of limitations. Herzog et al (1997) also considered the cognitive benefits of restorative experiences, and differences between 'soft' fascination, which allows reflection, and 'hard' fascination, which fills the mind. Comparing natural, sports/entertainment and urban settings, natural settings were rated highest for overall restorative effectiveness, and urban settings lowest. Psycho-evolutionary theory However, Ulrich et al's (1991) findings do not support this view, and contradict the notion that restorative influences of nature stem purely from involuntary attention or fascination. Ulrich et al (1991) looked at ideas of 'restoration' and 'stress recovery' and the extent to which exposure to various outdoor environments may help or hinder recovery from stress. They tested the idea that exposure to natural settings may foster greater stress recovery than in urban environments. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that stress recovery occurs in recreation experiences in wilderness or urban nature areas, the specific contribution of the natural component has not been clearly isolated. After showing participants a stressful movie followed by video of either natural or urban settings, Ulrich et al (1991) examined responses to stress with an extensive range of physiological measures including heart rate, muscle tension, skin conductance, as well as self ratings of emotional states. Recovery from stress was faster and more complete with exposure to natural rather than urban environments indicating that responses to nature involved a parasympathetic (subconscious, automated) nervous system component. Instead, he suggests that findings support predictions of Ulrich's (1983) psycho-evolutionary theory that restorative influences of nature involve a shift towards a more positive emotional state, positive changes in physiology, and that these changes are accompanied by sustained attention (Bell p 41). Some have suggested that natural scenes may be processed more easily and efficiently because the brain and sensory systems evolved in natural environments (e.g. Wohlwill 1983), but that this evolutionary mechanism is lacking for urban environments, which thus place greater demands on processing resources.

Both the stress-inducing movie and nature video were associated with cardiac deceleration, characteristic of heightened attention, whereas urban scenes did not have this effect. Ulrich suggests these results support the hypothesis that there are two aspects of the attention-holding properties of scenes. With a dangerous encounter with nature, attention may pair with stress, whereas attention to other natural environments may lead to calming and restorative physiological effects (Bell p 40). Ulrich's study suggests that the beneficial effects of nature occur not just through attentional or cognitive effects as Kaplan & Kaplan (1989) suggest, but also through positive emotional responses. Cooper Marcus also conducted several studies on the therapeutic benefits of outdoor places. After spending time in gardens and outdoor spaces, 95% of staff, patients and visitor in hospital settings reported positive change in mood (Barnes and Cooper Marcus 1995). Four characteristics were specified as contributing to change of mood: natural elements, sensory qualities, qualities evoking safety and comfort, and opportunities for privacy and solitude. [In all of the above, a method of assessment of the quality of the environment being examined is necessary. They vary in the extent to which subjective elements are taken into account. Some of the methods of judging this include Environmental Quality Index (EQI) to directly measure physical aspects of environmental quality, Perceived Environmental Quality Index (PEQI), a subjective measure of environmental quality, Environmental Emotional Reaction Indices (EERIs) which include feelings and emotional reactions to environmental quality. See Bell pp. 42-45]

III

Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature. IV Key Questions

Why does nature make us feel better? What mechanisms might bring this about? Why do we find nature attractive? Is an appreciation of wilderness, or nature, culturally determined or innate? How does environmental psychology relate to ecopsychology? In what ways might environmental psychology be used help to solve environmental problems? References Essential Bell, Paul; Fisher, Jeffrey; Baum, Andrew; Greene, Thomas (1996). Environmental Psychology. 4th edition. [Chapter 1 for an overview, Chapters 2 & 14 in addition] Bragg, E. (1997). Ecopsychology and Academia: Bridging the Paradigms. [See web site: Ecopsychology Online no 2; on redressing the unnecessary division between ecopsychology and environmental psychology] http://isis.csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/0197/newresch.htm Recommended Cooper Marcus C,; Barnes, M. (1995). Gardens in Health Care Facilities: Uses, therapeutic benefits and design recommendations. Martinez CA: The Center for Health design Inc. 3

Mathews, M. (1992). Making Sense of Place: Children's Understanding of Large-Scale Environments. Shepard, Paul (1982) Nature and Madness. [important book and seminal human ecological writer but can be read later. Many of Shepard's ideas are summarised in the collected The Only World We've Got: A Paul Shepard Reader] Ulrich et al (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11, 201-230. ********************************** Optional Bem, D. (1971). Beliefs, attitudes and human affairs. Brooks/Cole. Bonnes, Mirilia & Secchiaroli, Gianfranco (1995). Environmental Psychology: a psychosocial introduction. Sage. Cooper Marcus, C. (1999). Nature as Healer: therapeutic benefits in outdoor places. Paper at For the Love of Nature? Conference. CHE. Festinger et al (1950). Social Pressures in Informal Groups. Harper & Row. Fishbein, M. & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behaviour: An introduction to theory and research. Addison-Wesley. Hartig et al (1991). Restorative effects of natural environment experience. Environment and Behaviour, 23, 3-26. Heerwagen, J. (1990). Psychological aspects of windows and window design. In R I Selby, K H Anthony, J Choi & B Orland Eds, Proceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Environmental Design Research Association, Oklahoma City: EDRA pp 269-280. Herzog et al (1997). Reflection and attentional recovery as distinctive benefits of restorative environments Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 165-170. Honeyman (1990). Vegetation and stress: a comparison study of varying amounts of vegetation in countryside and urban scenes. Paper presented at the National Symposium on the Role of Horticulture in Human Well-being and Social Developments, Washington DC, April 1990 Kaplan (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology. Kaplan & Kaplan (1989). The Experience of Nature: A psychological perspective. Cambridge UP. Kaplan et al (1988) Coping with Daily Hassles: The impact of nearby nature on the work environment. Project report. USDA Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station, Urban Forestry Unit Cooperative Agreement 23-85-08. Leather PJ, Pyrgas M, Beale D, Lawrence C (1998) Windows in the workplace. Sunlight, view and occupational stress. Environment & Behavior, 30, 6, 739-762 Lewin, K. (1951). Formalisation and Progress in Psychology. In Cartwright, D. (Ed.), Field Theory in Social Science. Harper. Moore, E O (1982) A prison environments effect on health care service demands. Journal of Environmental Systems, 11, 17-34 Reser, J P (1995) Whither Environmental Psychology? The Transpersonal Ecopsychology Crossroads. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 235-257 [critical discussion on the relationship between environmental psychology and ecopsychology] Russell, J. & Snodgrass, J. (1987). Emotion and the Environment. Chapter in Stokols, D. & Altman, I. Handbook of Environmental Psychology. 3

Tennessen & Cimprich (1995). Views to nature: effects on attention. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 15, 77-85 Ulrich, R. (1979). Visual landscapes and psychological well-being. Landscape Research, 4, 17-23. Ulrich, R. (1981). Natural versus urban scenes, Journal of Environmental Psychology. Ulrich, R. (1983). Aesthetic and affective responses to the natural environment. Chapter in Stokols, D. & Altman, I. Handbook of Environmental Psychology. Ulrich, R. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224, 420-421. West, M J (1985) Landscape virsus and stress response in the prison environment. MLA thesis. Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle WA Wohlwill, J. (1983). The concept of nature: A psychologist's view. In Altman, I. & Wohlwill, J. Behaviour and the Natural Environment. Plenum.

Session 5 Psychology of Environmental Crises and Environmental Action I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: II An appreciation of the psychological impacts of natural and man-made hazards and disasters An understanding of the psychological models employed by environmental organisations in their work An ability to recognise and suggest possible improvements to the techniques used by campaigning and other social change activity An awareness of some of the fundamental underpinnings to environmentally-motivated action Session Outline

Hazards and disasters The environment in which we live and move around is at times both welcoming and stressful. As we see while progressing through this Module, the degree to which we register, perceive and react to those positive and negative influences is affected both by the nature of the influences themselves (in terms of their archetypal impact on humans) and by our individual psychological make-up. Three 'classes' of stressors have been proposed: small-magnitude day-to-day events; individual threats; and cataclysmic events (Lazarus & Cohen 1977). Natural disasters happen - almost by definition - very rarely, and in the larger scheme of things affect a small proportion of people. Conventionally, 'natural' is taken to mean as a result of the often huge forces outwith human control - fire, flood, pestilence, earthquake - and a 'natural disaster' is something that human beings are merely the passive subject of. However, whilst one can argue that an earthquake on the Californian coastal San Andreas Fault is a 'natural event' which is clearly not the result of human agency, the distinction is not always so obvious. Increasingly, it has become clear that there are significant human impacts on certain environments which can contribute to increased likelihood of disaster events, or indeed when they happens can add to the scale of the impact. For example, Bangladesh, one of the world's lowest-lying (and poorest) countries is periodically inundated by a combination of monsoon flooding and the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta bursting its banks. Hundreds of thousands are driven from their lands and tens of thousands commonly drown. Media attribution invariably mentions the weather as a cause; seldom does it reiterate what has been known for years - that deforestation of the foothills of the Himalaya vastly diminishes the capability of the watershed to act as a buffering 'sponge' (and increases erosion), condemning those downstream to sudden flash flooding when the rains come. Nor does it often point out that a rapidly increasing population has driven many to move to marginal land so prone to flooding that it might not be inhabited, they had the choice. In the United States, forest fires have been known to rage for weeks in national parks, beyond anyone's ability to control. Long dry summers are often blamed for providing the preconditions in which such 3

events can unfold. However, in many types of forest relatively uninterfered with by humans, periodic fires are a normal event, and indeed can be essential to the germination of certain types of tree. In fact, it turns out that such national parks have often been 'managed' for many years previously to quash any smaller fires as they occur, thus effectively storing up a reservoir of unburned fuel that, when a fire gets out of control, makes for a much larger-scale event than would 'naturally' have occurred. Similarly, one might examine the case of global warming as an even larger-scale example. 'Slow disasters'? It is evident that the boundaries between 'natural' and 'man made' disasters are not as clear as one might first assume, and that the attribution of cause is to some degree a matter of perceptions. Indeed it might be argued that there is in fact a continuum from the purely 'natural' to the purely 'man-made' disaster, of which at the latter end the extreme example might be the exploding nuclear power station. It is commonly argued that a disaster can be characterised by being sudden and unpredictable, and further that it is of limited duration. On the face of it this might be a satisfactory description - but take the example of the British countryside. One might argue that the cumulative, long term impact of humanity on the ecology of the UK has been a disaster. Clearing of the pre-existing vegetation and the progressive expansion of agricultural scale and technology has resulted in a so-called 'cultural landscape' that is in biodiversity terms an impoverished shadow of its former self: this has continued during living memory such that we now have almost no frogs, very few songbirds and little hedgerow remaining. But this 'disaster' has been predicted for at least hundreds of years, despite which history has continued on its inexorable slow march to the present position. One might place cumulative pollution problems in a similar category. Bell claims that 'technological accidents are not predictable at all [p.246]: this is at very least arguable. Whilst it may be correct to say that any given event may not be predictable in all its facets (e.g. time of occurrence, scale, effects), many would point out that the field of risk assessment exists to calculate some degree of likelihood - the 'odds' - that if we take X course of action, Y will happen within, say, 100 years (e.g. a major component of a bridge corroding; the level of a river rising above flood defences). Bear in mind that this slow movement towards the undesirable is not confined to humanmade disasters - for example, coastal erosion. The well-known parable of the frog in hot water is apt here. The human nervous system is notoriously good at detecting small moment-to-moment change - critical in survival, but (in common with many animals) very poor at maintaining vigilance when change is slow. Similarly, we pay more attention to what is in our field of perception and immediately important at any given time than the distant but perhaps equally significant (see examples above). Disastrous effects Disasters have mental impacts. Beforehand, a common response to warnings of impending catastrophe is disbelief - not least because the warning may be directed at a population well used to similar warnings that do not materialise. In the immediate aftermath of a sudden traumatic event people are often stunned; some react with antisocial behaviour (e.g. looting), while more commonly there is a pulling together for the purposes of collective rescue and reconstruction. Mental symptoms can be profound and highly disturbing, as evidenced by the all-too-evident emotional suffering - anxiety, depression, etc. - of those made homeless by storms, wars, etc. The research suggests that this is relatively short-lived (1-2 years) and that most victims adjust to their new circumstances. Social support - one's sense of belonging and being valued, the integrity of one's community - is a protective factor, although obviously the disaster itself may damage such networks of mutual aid. Some, particularly those under continuing stress or who had pre-existing psychiatric symptoms, may continue to suffer, many of whom will fall under the relatively recently coined term 3

Post-traumatic stress disorder. In PTSD, victims are revisited by visions of the trauma they have been through, which they find difficult to shake off - although in time most do succeed. Collateral damage e.g. physical injury, bereavement, homelessness - makes coping more difficult [Bell Chapter 7, pp. 234]. It has been claimed that the psychological sequelae of human-originated disaster is more complex and/or enduring, but this conclusion seems to relate principally to dramatic, relatively short-term events (e.g. nuclear explosions & leaks) [Bell Chapter 7]. Environmental attitudes, motivation and behaviour How can we classify the ways in which we view nature? The most common technique is a spectrum from views that are often identified with the Biblical concepts as 'dominion' (or exploitation) through 'stewardship' to 'equality' (arguably, the view of Adam & Eve). More academically, this is often summarised as follows: Resourcism -the dominant, anthropocentric perspective that natural lands and their inhabitants are resources which, if they are to be conserved, are treated as such because of their future value for human purposes; Preservationism - (or conservationism) emphasises a holistic view of nature, and the value of preserving a complex interrelated ecosystem, yet still assumes a largely anthropocentric view of managing nature for human benefit; Ecocentrism - natural ecosystems have intrinsic value, independent of their value to humans, e.g. the familiar deep ecology example. The interesting question in the current context, of course, is how we come to have such a variety of views, and how individuals 'choose' what views they adhere to - most in the west tending to hover somewhere between resourcism and preservationism. The picture is not completely clear, although there are some tantalising speculations to be made. What shapes our attitudes? Many factors have been identified, including social climate, peer pressure, the economic situation, the prevailing western industrial mindset. Much of this is covered elsewhere in this Module and in terms of a thorough but accessible review of this in psychological terms we have found no more appropriate volume than the set text Winter. We do know that attitudes have been changing for a generation (Elgin 1997). By the early 1990s, more than three quarters of the population in north America and northern Europe were content to call themselves 'environmentalist' (Willett et al 1995). Today, the majority of British people say they would prefer to walk than shop, and place a high value upon relationships and the environment (Robins & Simms 2000), although whether they act in accordance with these expressed attitudes is open to debate. What actually brings about or permits changes in attitude is still a matter of speculation. Certainly, personal, and personality, factors play some role. A number of mechanisms are commonly identified: learning theory (c.f. Pavlov, etc.) suggests that a person's actions are [proportional to] the physical reinforcements to any given behaviour that they encounter (e.g. recycling is facilitated by kerbside collections); social reinforcement (peer pressure) is powerful - the urge to 'fit in'; trait theory assigns some measure of difference between different people over their likelihood of learning or choosing to behave in particular ways (i.e. the classic three 'Eysenckian' axes of extroversion, psychoticism, neuroticism); and personal experience including both education, environmental education and preschool is also a factor (e.g. attachment theory in mother-child interaction, leading to idea of relation with 'mother nature'). [Bowlby 1969] Measures of self esteem and the ideas we hold about ourselves and our own freedom to act affect behaviour. Some people believe they are to a large degree masters of their own fate and that therefore there is much more they can do to avoid or minimise the dangers they face. Others 'put their fate in God' or other external power (e.g. 'luck'), and start from the assumption that there is little they can do. 4

Psychologists term this the spectrum of internal-external 'locus of control'. It is not just a matter of curiosity: it can affect your likelihood of being killed. Work in the southern and midwestern US demonstrates that (the more religious?) southerners make less preparations for tornadoes, and consequently die more often at their hands [Bell, Chapter 7, pp.233-4]. Insofar as it has interacted directly with environmentalism, environmental psychology has a history of attempting to understand environmentally responsible behaviour using existing psychological frameworks, and making prescriptions based on these. Sometimes, they are successful, but it has in general proven difficult to maintain high levels of change through one-off interventions. For that to occur, motivation must be maintained, and in situations where that is lacking, it is often possible to identify negative reinforcements which may be the deciding factor (e.g. no recycling kerbside collection). This throws doubt on, or at very least highlights the incompleteness of, the information > knowledge > understanding > wisdom (> action?) model. Note, however, the degree to which such prescriptions often rest on decidedly individualistic assumptions about why we act in particular ways. [Bell Chapter 14, pp. 520-556.] Influencing public opinion Before the last century, effective, universal democracy in the modern sense had not taken hold. 'Public opinion' insofar as it affected the formal decision-making structures and direction of society, was (in Europe) far more the sum of middle and upper-class attitudes - the non-propertied and women were not voters. Undoubtedly, there was considerable percolation of attitudes both up and down the social ladder, and collective attitudes did move over time, but in the context of a far more constricted set of circumstances. Without the clearer evidence of opinion polls and surveys of attitudes, it is a far more difficult task to determine what people actually thought. We are left with the more opaque evidence of literature and art and the dry testament of official records. These appear to convey social conservatism, relative (by today's standards) ignorance of the 'facts' and, interestingly, early shimmerings around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries of a recoiling from the 'ugliness' of industrialisation, with the Romantic movement. Some argue the modern 'environmental' movement was born when reformers campaigned for and successfully achieved legislation for clean air and water. It's fair to assume that campaigning in the modern sense is a considerably more sophisticated activity than it was150 years ago, but nevertheless it is still commonly rooted in the desire to bring about changes in public policy or in the behaviour of large. However, in the age of the mass media, and particularly the powerful medium of television, years of patient speech-giving is often replaced by the visual stunt. Friends of the Earth was founded with the idea of placing on the steps of the government thousands of returnable drink bottles, which at the time were facing the threat of being phased out (which in the end they were). Why did this work to gain the new organisation a level of publicity it could not have hoped to buy? Because it combined the genius of summarising the issue, a defiant but fundamentally ineffective act, and a picturesque piece of street theatre which constituted an irresistible photo-opportunity. A formula that in the years since has been learned and relentlessly milked by a thousand other media-literate protest groups. King among them, of course, is Greenpeace, which is recognised globally for making exemplary use of non-violent confrontation. They typically work by uncovering quiet attempts by government or industry to act damagingly, and swiftly creating large-scale but nimble, often grandly theatrical scenarios aimed at embarrassing the authorities into action. The added frisson of danger to the lives of protestors combined with evident public approval (e.g. the boycott of Shell petrol stations, especially in Germany, during the Brent Spar protests) often results in official capitulation under protest. (Note, however, their hierarchical internal structure and lack of democracy or direct accountability to membership except through annual contributions.) 'Better' campaigning? 4

It often appears to those who wish to promulgate a message to many people that the only course of action is to join the ever-tougher competition for a bigger slice of the public's 'mindshare'. Fighting to get sixty seconds on the Nine O'Clock News must be the holy grail of the publicist. Just look at the sums - ten million people for a minute - that would take a lifetime face to face (actually, the same number of people-minutes would take 20 lecturers each to deliver a morning's lectures to 100 people once a week for a year). This propaganda 'tragedy of the commons' can thus seem to lead inexorably to a cacophony of ever louder voices shouting each other down, vying for our attention. The more dramatic our appeals, the more starkly-put is our story, so this logic runs, the more effective it will be in communicating. However, in such tellings - essentially of the history of the media through which communication occurs - the fundamental basis upon which our attitudes are formed and moulded is often omitted. We are highly social animals. Whilst it might be possible to argue that in the modern world that the mass media does indeed play a very significant role in shaping our attitudes, these means only succeed to the degree that they do because they piggy-back on our evolved predisposition to communicate. In other words, it can be argued that the overwhelmingly most significant 'media' is interpersonal communication, a phenomena which is the ultimate example of that which the internet is helping the mass media rediscover - 'narrowcasting'. Tell five people something today. If they tell five other people the same thing tomorrow and the cycle continues, it takes two weeks to tell the entire world. Put that in the context of the transmission of all the major ideas of human culture, and the time taken for them to be adopted - socialism, women's liberation, anti-racism; all have taken at least half a century to percolate throughout even the western part of human culture. To revert to the boiling frog anecdote, how - in such a slow change in collective attitudes by the standards of one human lifetime - would environmentalists know if they were succeeding? Perhaps the particulars of what is in the media and the public consciousness at any given moment are more comparable to the spikes and troughs in the FTSE 100, or the day's weather forecast. Undoubtedly the media does convey information, but remember that one hour after the evening news, the average person can remember one story. It may be that some longer-term, drip-drip, tidal process underlies what we think and believe. So, if one shares this lack of faith in the mass media as our salvation, what are the lessons for those who are concerned to have major, lasting effect upon public opinion? Keep plugging away at your message to everyone who is ready to listen, and don't mind too much what media it is transmitted by and when. Pay particular attention to one-to-one and one-to-few communication, and to the fine detail of the interpersonal, such as body language, intonation, and dress. Integrity and real emotion do come across. The majority of a communication at this scale is non-verbal. Seek to engender curiosity, without threat of fear. Empathise with where your audience is at, and try to lead them gently to where you would want them to go. III Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature, plus group tutorial. IV Key Questions Do people judge environmental risks accurately? Is 'guilt-tripping' effective? What characteristics of a campaign would suggest to you that a non-confrontational approach might be the most likely to get results? What do we believe about nature and why? 4

If you succeed in changing attitudes, have you won? References

Essential Bell et al (1996). Environmental Psychology. [Chapter 7 on Disasters & Chapter 14 on Behaviour] Winter (1995). Ecological Psychology. [Chapter 3 Social Psychology, Chapter 6 Cognitive Psychology, Chapter 14 Changing Behaviour to Save the Environment] Recommended Bowlby, John (1969). Attachment and Loss: Vol. 1 Attachment. Elgin, Duane (1997). Global Consciousness Change: Indicators of an Emerging Paradigm. Robins & Simms (2000). British Aspirations. Resurgence, 201, July/August, 6-9. Willett, Kempton; Boster, James S.; Hartley, Jennifer A. (1995). Environmental Values in American Culture. Optional Hill, B. (1998). Cambridge paper. 2nd Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section, University of Cambridge. Lazarus & Cohen (1977) Environmental Stress, in Altman & Wohwill, Human Behaviour & the Environment.

Session 6 Psychological Models related to Ecopsychology I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: An appreciation of some major models in psychology and their key features A critical appraisal of the strengths and limitations of each approach. Awareness of how psychological thinking in these models might contribute to understanding beliefs and behaviour in relation to environmental issues Session Outline

II

This session offers a broad overview of major approaches within psychology and different perspectives that may offer insights on environmentally relevant behaviour. It is essential to read the relevant Chapter in Winter to gain a broad appreciation of how the various schools of psychology articulate with the environment. Other important but less 'mainstream' approaches will be considered in the session 7. In what ways can psychology, as a discipline dedicated to the 'study of behaviour and mental life', apply its tools or insights to help a deeper understanding of the roots of environmental problems, and how people think and behave as individuals and as a society in relation to these issues? People's perceptions and responses to information about the environment may be optimistic or pessimistic, based not only on 'facts' but also on their values, attitudes, and assumptions about the future and various other social and individual factors. Winter (1996) suggests that 'boomsters' taking an optimistic view would consider the 'doomsters' as predicting environmental 'hell' and promising 'salvation' through conversion to an ecological worldview. Conversely, 'doomsters' would consider this perspective a result of denial, scientific ignorance. To accept the seriousness of environmental problems could risk opening to painful feelings of despair, pain, guilt, hopelessness and helplessness (considered in later Sessions). Potential solutions perceived may range from major governmental regulations, to a transformation of spiritual values. What might the different psychological models contribute to our understanding? Psychology as a discipline emerged a century ago from a tradition of introspection about the human experience with the twin impetus' of physiology and philosophy, which respectively attempted to correlate mental events experience with objectively verifiable evidence and sought to answer fundamental questions about purpose and meaning. However the so-called mentalists were rudely awakened by the largely American behaviourists who, early last century, denied the validity of inner experience as being other than epiphenomenal. In the 1950s, the cognitivists challenged the prevailing wisdom with their emphasis on information processing. More recently still, connectionism has taken centre stage. In parallel, springing from hypnosis and mesmerism (used in seances) arose the originally Freudian, later psychodynamic schools, which placed inner experience at the centre of their concerns. As social psychology was born as the study of the effects of collective norms and behaviours on personal states, therapeutic psychology spawned humanistic psychology, incorporating a quasi-political view of the sovereignty of the individual as the best knower of their own experience. Latterly, cybernetic understandings have arisen through family therapy and increasingly, systemic models are being used at many levels including the cognitive, the behavioural and the collective. Social Psychology: This considers the role of collective and social factors, and the global implications 4

of how we think and behave, and demonstrates how our immediate social setting determines behaviour, e.g. how norms, conformity, roles, and reference groups influence what we think are private personal views (e.g. classic experiments by Milgram and Zimbardo). Factors such as social diffusion and gender bias may also have an influence. Social psychology offers insights into how to change attitudes by changing behaviour first, e.g. Bem's (1971) self-perception theory, and considers how prejudices and stereotypes shape environmentally relevant behaviour. Sexism, racism, classism and ethnocentrism, or human chauvinism operate in similar ways to influence our worldview and how we treat nature. Cognitive Dissonance Theory describes how we cope with tension of discrepancy between two opposing thoughts. Attribution Theory considers how the attributions we make of our own and other's behaviour can protect from personal discomfort and avoid environmentally appropriate behaviour. Game Theory e.g. Tragedy of the Commons, (Hardin 1968) examines issues of cooperation or competition and research with social dilemma games (Colman 1996). Freudian Psychology: This psychodynamic approach in psychology considers the role of personal factors and individual differences, and includes four main features: 1. Offers insight into deeply rooted instinctual needs and focuses on unconscious motivations, viewing humans as largely driven by unconscious forces. From a Freudian perspective, environmental destruction could be explained by instinctual drives of Eros and Thanatos. Freud viewed the human as being in opposition to nature. 2. Conflict between id, ego and superego is seen as universal and inevitable. Many environmental choices involve conflict between these structures.

3. Adult personality is based on bodily experience in early life, and character traits such as oral dependency or anal retentiveness. The controversial idea of penis envy suggests that orientation to world is based on genital structure. Could this analogy be extended to ideas of how society values males over females, and supports assertion, initiation and domination over receptivity, nurture and acceptance? Winter (1996) suggests that it is largely men who create the physically greatest technological feats e.g. nuclear power plants and missiles, high rise buildings, dams; and that therefore the traditional Western view of nature could be described as a 'phallic' view. (This and ideas of gender bias in social psychology has obvious links with ecofeminist views.) 4. The idea of defence mechanisms is a major contribution from the psychodynamic approach, describing how we defend against anxiety by splitting off unwanted thoughts and feelings from awareness and using defences to disguise and contain them. Application of these insights can be made to the split between planet and self, and how these defences operate in relation to environmentally destructive behaviour and beliefs. For example, our desire for material wellbeing leads to behaviours we know contribute to ecological problems, resulting in a split-off, fragmented, dissonant state where we continue our destructive behaviour while to some extent aware of threats to ecosystem. Common defence mechanisms include rationalisation, intellectualisation, displacement, suppression, repression, denial, reaction formation, projection, and sublimation. How might these might operate to keep us distant from feelings about environmental problems or behaviour and their implications? From a psychoanalytic (and other therapeutic) perspective, being willing to acknowledge our despair, sadness or fear about the environment and experience discomfort and possibly catharsis is the first step towards finding a solution by freeing the psyche to redirect energy. (This idea has direct links with deep ecology, and the despair and empowerment work later.) However the Freudian view is clearly culturally constrained by the milieu from which it arose, and dubious in relation to women, and its emphasis is on insight, rather than solution or action or changing behaviour. 4

Behavioural Psychology: This approach focuses on changing environmental behaviour without addressing deeper causes, but nonetheless offers some useful concepts and principles. Emphasis is on measurement, specification and stimulus control. The concept of an individual self is seen as an illusion as there is a functional unity between person and environment as we exist in a behaviour-environment interactive system. Behaviour is a reflection of environmental stimuli and the reinforcers that shape our behaviour. Principles of classical (Pavlov) and operant, or instrumental conditioning (Thorndike, Skinner) are central. What we do is seen as a function of reinforcers that act on us. Winter (1996) gives an example (arguable) of how this might work in an environmental context: pictures of nuclear accidents produce unconditioned responses of horror/anxiety, which become paired with images of nuclear power plants. Emotions are generalised to all nuclear plants and this becomes labelled as 'irrational'. Behaviour developed with intermittent rather than continuous reinforcement creates stronger habits and is more resistant to extinction. Skinner suggests that culture changes faster than adaptive behaviour. Most environmentally inappropriate behaviour is rewarded by convenience, social status, comfort or pleasure whereas appropriate behaviours are not. For example, driving to work - if there are more reinforcers such as comfort, ease, bad public transport, the rewards outweigh the penalties (this links to Game Theory and issues of cooperative or competitive behaviour, and social traps as reinforcement dilemmas.) Principles of changing behaviour include modifying or removing the contingencies that reinforce environmentally detrimental behaviour, and consider antecedent or consequence strategies, i.e. focuses on events that take place immediately before or after a behaviour. There is a feedback loop where actions change the environment, and the environment changes actions. With this approach there is a danger of focus on small or superficial changes, not addressing deeper issues, and missing the 'bigger picture'. Cognitive Psychology: offers a valuable focus on thoughts and beliefs, and how becoming aware of erroneous beliefs and attitudes can help change them. This approach emphasises the importance of knowing how people think or make meaning about environmental problems as crucial to understanding their responses. Models of information processing consider how behaviour is a function of the quality of our information and how we process it. In this model, inappropriate environmental behaviour is due to inadequate, mistaken, distorted or missing information about the consequences of our actions. Confirmation bias prevents us seeking information that would disconfirm our beliefs. Pre-existing beliefs influence our preconceptions and expectations and how we interpret information and events hence the divided discourse about environmental problems. Heuristics as reasoning strategies can be misleading. Interpretation of information changes according to how it is framed - framing effects. This approach assumes the main problem is needing better information; but ignores the obvious evidence that we know more than we seem able to act on. Systemic Approach: Based on the idea that a system is both a whole in itself and a part of a larger whole, this approach e.g. as applied in family therapy, sees the individual as embedded in a larger system of the family. It includes ideas such as feedback and homeostasis, derived from General Systems Theory (von Bertalanffy 1968), and developed by Bateson (1972). Behaviour and experience are not seen as linear but related in a circular recursive way by self-regulatory mechanisms or 'feedback loops' which may be negative - maintaining homeostasis and keep things as they are, or positive - leading to change, growth and creativity. Families as a system however can vary in their ability to develop adaptive and flexible structures in response to feedback from the environment or their individual members. In an open family system, adaptive responses to a problem may include changes in behaviour and attitude, whereas if the system is closed, the family may not adapt appropriately to new 'information' or circumstances, and may need help to make the relevant changes. Where most psychology and therapy focuses on the 'whole' at the level of the individual, family therapy is a step towards considering the person as part of the larger whole of the family, but still pays little attention to interactions with larger macro-social systems or the natural world (Kidner 1994). 4

III

Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature. IV V Key Questions What are the strengths and weakness of these psychological models in understanding environmentally related beliefs and behaviour? How does our current environment support inappropriate behaviour? What is the relationship between attitudes and behaviour? In what ways might the gap between environmentally appropriate attitudes and action may reflect the split between planet and self? To what extent can psychology, which itself arose out of and is a part of our modern worldview, help us step outside this or help our thinking in solving environmental problems and changing behaviour? What pitfalls might there be in trying to combine academic psychology with environmentalism? References

Essential Winter (1996) [Chapter 4 Unconscious conflicts; Chapter 5 Behaviourism] Johnstone, Chris (1994). The Lens of Deep Ecology: pain for the world, systems theory and finding our power to make a difference. Institute for Deep Ecology UK. [copy with CHE; see section on Systems Theory] Recommended Bateson, Gregory (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Ballantine. Gleitman, Henry (1995). Psychology. W.W. Norton & Co. Kidner, D W (1994) Why psychology is mute about the environmental crisis. Environmental Ethics 14, 4, 359-376 Mack, John (1991). Inventing a psychology of our relationship to Earth. ReVision, 14(2),102-106.

********************************** Optional Bem, Daryl J. (1970). Beliefs, attitudes and human affairs. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Colman, A. M. (1996). Game Theory & its Applications in Social and Biological Science. Hardin, Garrett (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162, 1243-1248. Nichols, William C. (1986). Systemic Family Therapy: An Integrative Approach. Guilford Press. Von Bertalanffy, Ludwig (1968) General System Theory. George Braziller Winter (1996) [Chapter 1: What on Earth are We Doing?] For more on Game Theory - Social Dilemmas, e.g. The Prisoner's Dilemma, Tragedy of the Commons: see mentions in Winter (1996) Chapter 5, and also Chapter 7, section on Gestalt Psychology. For more general psychology, consult a textbook such as Gleitman. 4

Session 7 Deep Ecology and the Ecological Self I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: II An outline of some non-mainstream psychological approaches which inform an ecopsychological view A knowledge of how the deep ecological conception of the self extends existing models An understanding of concept of ecological self and how this relates to other psychological schools Session Outline

This session considers a number of 'alternative' psychological approaches that relate to ecopsychology, and examines in more depth ideas in deep ecology and the concept of the ecological self. Transpersonal and Gestalt These approaches are concerned with consciousness, rather than the unconscious, and focus on our experience of relationship and wholeness. These views of psychology emphasise our embeddedness in a larger world, and are non-reductionist. Possibly as a consequence, and in common with the related humanistic approach, they are not generally considered to be part of mainstream psychology. They consider the holistic nature of perception, seeing meaning as arising through the forms or patterns created between separate elements. [There is no exact translation into English of the complex meanings of the German word Gestalt: it is often taken as 'pattern' or 'structure', and is used to describe the relationship between elements of a phenomenon.] They maintain that the modernist view of ourselves as separate constrains our perception of meaningful relationships in the larger whole. While not fundamentally concerned with environmentalist perspectives, the perceptual shift that gestalt and transpersonalism attempt to engender towards seeing ourselves as embedded in a group (or field or even 'ecology') of elements, has been seen as potentially helpful in changing environmentally problematic behaviour. That transformation is more than a cognitive event - it involves direct perception and/or spiritual insight. 'Third Force' or humanistic psychology (e.g. Maslow, Rogers) includes ideas of self-actualisation, and considers the characteristics of fully functioning individuals and peak experiences. Transpersonal or 'Fourth Force' psychology goes beyond the personal and sense of individual ego, and is centred in the cosmos. Jung, disciple of Freud and founder of his own school of psychology involving archetypes - deep seated, evolved ideas held in our collective unconscious - saw the human psyche as an outgrowth of the natural world, and acknowledged the importance of the natural world for psychological well being (Kidner 1994). These approaches offer valuable insights for an ecologically based psychology, and contribute to integrating both scientific and spiritual understanding to build a sustainable culture, together with political and economic considerations. They also have links with deep ecology and ecophilosophy. The emphasis in transpersonal psychology of a less individualised, more universal self has parallels with the sense of ecological self to which deep ecologists refer. Ecological Psychology As outlined by Winter (1996) this considers humans to be fundamentally dependent on a larger 4

ecosystem and considers human experience and behaviour in its physical, political and spiritual context in order to build a sustainable world. Psychology therefore needs to confront our ecological existence and focus attention to ensure our survival. Environmentally destructive behaviour, it claims, arises from a mistaken view of humans as separate from our environment. Where traditional psychology focuses on improving information, reinforcement, norms and awareness of our actions, ecological psychology also focuses on wider global, political and economic dimensions of our behaviour as well as deeper levels of spiritual experience. Mack (1991) outlines 5 elements of a psychology of the environment: a) b) c) Appreciation that we have a relationship with Earth itself; Analysis of traditional attitudes towards the Earth; Application of methods of exploring and changing our relationship with Earth to facilitate a reconnection with it; d) Examination of politics and economics from an ecopsychological perspective; e) Psychologists becoming professionally and personally committed and involved outside their laboratories and offices. However it is important to be aware of the older, more commonly used meaning attributed to the phrase ecological psychology. This began with the observation that laboratory experiments conducted in controlled circumstances may not fully reflect phenomena in the real world. Its founder, Gibson, made a close study of the perception of movement, and in particular the complexities of understanding changing visual information in three dimensional space. They argued that we integrate information from our sense organs with that from our bodily movements to keep track of visual patterns. Another significant concept of potential relevance to our interests is that of affordances, the idea that any given set of external surroundings and objects gives us strong cues as to what is possible within that environment, which we subsequently use to guide our actions. [Neisser 1976] Socially Constructed Self The modern view of each individual being a separate and stable entity, always acting rationally and competing for economic gain, stands in contrast to the postmodern, social constructionist view of psychology which emphasises the self as fluid, semi-permeable and continually in a state of flux insofar as we are taking in and attempting to integrate new information. The underlying idea is that we are constructed from social processes. [Gergen 1985.] Deep Ecology and the ecological self The term deep ecology - or rather 'the deep, long-range ecology movement' - was coined by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess in 1973, with the aim of examining deeper questions about human beings and their relationship to nature. This compares with so-called 'shallow' ecology (a term seen by many as disdainful) which, while seeking a better environmental 'result', is therefore accused of not addressing these deeper issues. Deep ecology thus questions basic assumptions we make about both our own reasons for acting, and the values upon which we build our institutions. Many deep ecologists suggest that the global crisis is a result of the dominance of our culture's mechanistic worldview perpetuated by science and in service to the domination of capitalism. The movement of green justice or environmental justice advocates a balance of the interests of nature and ecology over the normal anthropocentric interests, that have been called human chauvinism. [Seed] One of the norms or values that deep ecologists hold highest is that of self realisation - the value that each being ought to be able to reach its fullest potential, within the constraints of others doing the same (stemming from Gandhi and earlier, Spinoza). The ecological self, on the other hand, involves includes an identification with all beings, and even with the biosphere as a whole. This direct experience of interconnectedness is seen as a basis for 'passionate 4

engagement'. Those who place themselves between bulldozers and trees may then be understood to be acting not out of moral duty but as part of the ecosystem defending itself. This is in some senses where it comes closest to ecopsychology, since it extends Jung's idea of the collective unconscious and postulates an ecological unconscious. [Roszak 1992 pp. 310-305.] III Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature, plus group tutorial. IV V Essential Bragg, E. (1996). Towards Ecological Self: Deep Ecology Meets Constructionist Self-Theory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 93-108. Fox, Warwick (1990). Towards a Transpersonal Ecology: Developing New Foundations for Environmentalism. Boston: Shambala. [The whole book is accessible and interesting, but read Chapter 7: Transpersonal ecology as a distinctive approach to ecophilosophy.] Kidner, D. W. (1994). Why psychology is mute about the environmental crisis. Environmental Ethics, 14, 4, 359-376. Winter (1996). [Chapter 7: Holistic Approaches: Gestalt and Transpersonal Psychology (sections on transpersonal psychology, deep ecology and ecopsychology); Chapter 8: Psychology for a Sustainable World: Ecological Psychology.] Recommended Devall, B. (1988) Simple in Means, Rich in Ends: Practicing Deep Ecology. Peregrine Smith Books, Salt Lake City. Devall, B. and Sessions, G. (1985). Deep Ecology: Living As If Nature Mattered. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith. [esp. pp. 63-78.] * Johnstone, Chris (1994). The Lens of Deep Ecology - pain for the world, systems theory and finding our power to make a difference. Institute for Deep Ecology UK. [copy at CHE.] * Mack, John (1991). Inventing a psychology of our relationship to Earth. ReVision, 14 (2), 102-106. * Macy, Joanna (1991). World as Lover, World as Self. Parallax. * McClellan, John (1993). Nondual Ecology: In praise of wilderness and in search of harmony with everything that moves. Tricycle, a Buddhist Review, Winter [interesting critique of deep ecology from Buddhist perspective.] Naess, Arne (1984). A defence of the deep ecology movement. Environmental Ethics, 6, 266-270. * Seed, J., Macy, J., Fleming, P., Naess, A. (1988). Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All Beings. New Society Publishers. 5 Key Questions To what extent is a non-dualistic view and/or direct experience of the ecological self necessary for a deep sense of connection with nature? Is the underlying motivation of the sense of 'stewardship' that sees humans as different and separate but somehow responsible for nature in any way different (from the above)? Can direct experience of the 'ecological self' be fostered? How? To what extent is this a 'prerequisite' for appropriate environmental action? What are the limitations of the deep ecology view? What is your own experience of your ecological self? References

* Swimme B. & Berry T. (1992). The Universe Story: From Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era, A Celebration of the Unfolding Cosmos. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco. [story of the origin of humanity as the evolution of the Cosmos, as used by John Seed in his ecological remembering exercises.] ********************************** Optional Devall, B. (1980). The Deep Ecology Movement. Natural Resources Journal, 20, pp. 299-322. Devall, B. (1991). Deep ecology and radical environmentalism. Society and Natural Resources, 4, 247258. Drengson, A. R. (1991). Transpersonal extension of identification: its pathologies and relation to ecosophy. ReVision, 13(3). Drengson, A. R. and Inoue, Y. (1995). The deep ecology movement: An introductory anthology. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. [Chapters 1-2 (Naess), 5 (Naess/ Sessions), 8 (Drengson) (pp. 3-30, 49-53, 74-100).] * Fox, Warwick (1991). Self and World: A Transpersonal, Ecological Approach. ReVision, 13 (3),116121. Gergen, K J (1985) The social constructionist movement in modern psychology. American Psychologist, 40 (3), 266-275. Harre, R. (1987). The social construction of selves, in Yardley, K. & Honess, T. (Eds.) Self and Identity: Psychological perspectives. Maslow, A. (1971). The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. * Metzner, Ralph (1991). Psychologising deep ecology - a review essay. ReVision,13 (3), Naess, Arne (1973). The shallow and the deep, long-range ecology movement: A Summary. Inquiry,16, 95-100. Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and Reality. Roszak, T. (1992). The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology. [Chapter 11: Toward an Ecological Ego.] Sessions, G. (1991). Ecocentrism and the anthropocentric detour. ReVision, 13 (3). Sylvan, R. (1975). A critique of deep ecology. Radical Philosophy, (40-41), 2-22 [N.B. details not confirmed as correct.] Zimmerman, M. (1991). Deep Ecology, Ecoactivism and Human Evolution. ReVision, 13 (3), 122-128.

Session 8 What Ails the Human Species? Consumerism and the 'Empty Self' I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: An overview of some metaphors of psychopathology of the human race and various ways in which our culture tends to keep us 'separate'. Gained a historical perspective on the development of post WW2 'consumer culture'. A grasp of psychological ideas of the 'empty self' and the relationship of this with consumerism. A basic understanding of models of addiction as related to the individual and society. An understanding of concepts of 'disconnectedness', how disconnection and ecoalienation can occur, and ways this may be expressed by individuals and in relation to the earth. Session Outline

II

Examining the patient This session aims to explore in more depth the metaphor of psychopathology of the human-nature relationship, and considers the idea of the 'empty self' (in the psychological, as opposed to the spiritual or Buddhist sense). It also examines how consumerism might be related to models of addiction. How might the human species be diagnosed if it were a psychotherapy patient? A major theme that ecopsychology works with is disconnectedness, or alienation, from nature - what has been termed ecoalienation [Clinebell 1996]. Disconnectedness may be experienced on a physical or geographical level, e.g. loss of place or rootlessness, or in terms of the structure of society, e.g. breakdown of family, urbanisation and separation from contact with nature, no access to wilderness, etc. It may also be experienced at a personal or psychological intrapsychic level. Disconnectedness might be expressed as denial, repression, numbness, or projection. What is disconnectedness, and how might it come about? Are there different levels of disconnectedness e.g. from ourselves, from other beings, from the earth? Might there also be a spiritual level of disconnection from our 'soul' or spiritual nature? What are the processes and consequences of disconnectedness for us as individuals and as a culture? Metzner (1995) suggests a number of 'diagnostic metaphors' which can be applied to human beings' relationship with the natural world, e.g. arrested development, dissociation, autism, amnesia). He considers that a core feature of the Euro-American psyche is a dissociative split between spirit and nature, as we have forgotten something our ancestors knew and practised. Our inability to stop our suicidal or ecocidal behaviour fits the clinical definition of addiction or compulsion. Sarah Conn (1995) has identified the need to consume as 'materialistic disorder' and as a serious signal of our culture's disconnection from the Earth. She sees individual symptoms as signals of distress in our connection with, or ailment in the larger context itself. Our only way of 'hunting and gathering' is shopping and accumulating material goods. However, it is important to note that many of these speculations remain just that, as a proper attempt to bring together what disparate hard evidence exists to underpin such theories has yet to be carried out.

Buy more stuff As George Bush commented at the 1992 Rio summit, responding to suggestions from Third World representatives that a major cause of the environmental crisis was the huge demand for consumer goods from the USA and other industrial nations, 'The American way of life is not up for negotiation'. [as George Bush Junior has graphically demonstrated in tearing up the Kyoto climate change treaty...] This statement reflects the entrenched, even intransigent, attitude towards the inalienable 'right to consume' that seems to define the identity of the Western human. The Chairman of President Eisenhower's Council of Economic Advisers is recorded as having said the American economy's 'ultimate purpose is to produce more consumer goods.' [Winter 1996, p105.] It has been argued that the biggest psychological experiment in history is advertising, which not without coincidence began in earnest shortly after behaviourism took hold and the domestic broadcast media began to unfold [Kanner & Gomes in Roszak et al 1995]. This, essentially, was the advent less than two generations ago of the mass media. However, though perhaps easy to judge as crude by today's standards, attempts to influence public and private opinions had been made for centuries through newspapers, literature and art. Advertising sets out - arguably consciously - to cultivate feelings of deprivation and unfulfillment until some product is purchased or consumed, and some would say particularly focuses on the selfdoubt and insecurities of women. Winter quotes a chief advertising executive who stated 40 years ago: 'our job is to make women unhappy with what they have.' [Winter 1996, p105.] Yet, it seems, the more we have, the more we feel we need. Interestingly, beyond the fulfilment of basic needs, reported personal happiness is very loosely related to income or material possessions; consumerism might therefore be accused of threatening our psyches as well as the environment [Winter 1996, Durning 1995]. Consumer society fails in its promise of fulfilment through material goods because human wants are insatiable, needs are socially defined and the real sources of personal happiness are elsewhere [Durning 1995]. Suggestions from environmentalists that a reduction in consumption is needed are likely to be met with anxiety, depression, rage, and even panic [Kanner & Gomes 1995]. The pace of consumption seems unlikely to abate and with the advent of 24 hour on-line shopping from home, is becoming even more effortless. This pattern has similarities with the process of addiction. Overconsumption? The psychological aspect of consumerism has been highlighted by Cushman (1990) who linked it to the psychological syndrome known as narcissism, characterised by an inflated self image, and grandiose 'false self', beneath which lie unacknowledged feelings of worthlessness and emptiness. The consumer culture that has developed since World War II has created an increasingly isolated and individualistic 'self' that experiences an absence of community, tradition and shared meaning. Cushman suggests that this 'self' bears the hallmarks of narcissism, and that purchasing a product serves temporarily to alleviate the pain of empty life, and that society requires people who need and demand consumer products to combat growing alienation. Talking of the USA, he observes the paradox that one of earth's wealthiest nations is also one of the emptiest. However, psychotherapy rarely addresses the socio-historical situation that contributes to emptiness and fragmentation, but often reinforces the qualities of the self that have caused the problem, i.e. its 'autonomous, bounded and masterful nature'. [see Hillman & Ventura 1993.] What is the role of corporate advertising in creating a 'need' for goods that people were largely unaware of until advertising forced their attention on it? 5

This use of psychological skills in marketing and advertising for economic gain is also largely ignored by mainstream psychology, despite its being a major job market for graduates. Market research may serve to create attitudes, which did not previously exist, thus producing a cultural climate in which 'consumers' become psychologically adjusted to the requirements of the economic system itself. It might be speculated that this syndrome mirrors closely the cycles of addiction - which in the context of psychoactive drugs is almost universally seen as destructive. 'I feel empty' Although Cushman's observations raise important questions and his social constructivist argument draws attention to overlooked historical and socioeconomic influences, others suggest an alternative analysis. Ellis (1991) suggests that any attempt to define 'self' should include both social context and the individual's unique consciousness, and emphasises the importance of unconditional self-acceptance. With a rather different perspective, Col (1991) considers that it is the development of widespread phonetic literacy in western society, compared to traditional tribal society, that has led to a detached, individual self and a world of divided senses. [Abram 1996 echoes this.] Rostafinski (1991) views Cushman's analysis as an important contemporary configuration, but suggests he has not demonstrated its historical necessity of exclusiveness. Object relations theory This describes how we construct our sense of self from interactions with others, especially our 'primary caregiver' (usually, our mother), relates to understanding splitting between self and planet, and how overconsumption may be driven by the acting out of the 'false self'. This theory considers issues relating to the division between self and non-self and questions around the 'unity' experience. Discovering the interconnectedness and mutuality between planet and self is a developmentally sophisticated task. A damaged sense of trust and need for gratification can impact on environmental behaviour through narcissism, which links with ethnocentricity and the view that nature exists for our need gratification. Narcissism thus relates to compulsion and addictive behaviours (substance abuse, compulsive eating, gambling, sexual activity, etc.) as defences. The individual's behaviour is organised around the satisfaction of needs, and their conception of the world is as a place that offers or denies opportunities for this. However it can never wholly satisfy them as the objects that they target cannot feed their deeper psychological need for self definition. Depression may arise as a reaction towards environmental difficulties, lead to despair; paranoia can result from the Western view of a separate and threatening world, arguably illustrating our cultural pattern of diminished trust projected onto nature. [Winter 1996, pp135-144.] Addiction Society seems eager to identify drug problems where illegal drugs are involved, but reluctant to recognise problems when they involve legally available or medically sanctioned drugs such as alcohol or tranquillisers. Although there is a recognised condition of compulsive or addictive consuming which becomes problematic (compulsive shopping disorder), it is an even further leap to recognise the compulsion to consume by western society as a whole as a problem. It is currently estimated that one in twelve Americans are compulsive shoppers, ninety percent of whom are women, and pharmaceutical companies are sponsoring research to seek cures for the disorder. [Berdik 2000.] In general, addictions arise through trying to meet a need (such as for love, affection, self worth, or to process a past deficit or trauma) in a place it cannot be met such as alcohol, gambling, or drugs. Inevitably, the unmet need returns with greater urgency and the cyclic process continues. Addiction often arrests personal development, growth, learning and wisdom so that when addicts stop using they often feel they have not matured beyond the age they first started using. Glendenning (1995) describes addiction as a progressive disease that starts with inner psychological changes, leading to changes in 5

perception, behaviour, and lifestyle and later to total breakdown, and suggests 'techno-addiction' is form of this. Symptoms of the addictive process include denial, dishonesty, need to control, thinking disorders, grandiosity, disconnection from feelings, with hallmarks such as a compulsion to fill a lack of meaning and connectedness with substances like alcohol or experiences like fame. Addictive behaviour is not natural to the human species, Glendenning suggests, but happens because of some untenable violation has happened to us - such as the trauma of removal of our lives from the natural world. An alternative viewpoint on the roles of technology and capitalism is outlined by Axelrod & Suedfeld (1995). On the other hand, it has been said that time flies when you're having fun, and in some senses really enjoyable, absorbing pastimes can be said to have 'addictive' qualities. Many people report that creative and other tasks that challenge them to stretch themselves but not beyond their capabilities seem to create a state of 'flow', engendering an almost altered state of consciousness and a lasting sense of fulfilment. [Cziksentmihalyi 1992.] It may be that whatever we are doing to ourselves in the modern, media-saturated world, it somehow hijacks and feeds our natural predispositions to be relentlessly curious about the world, vigilant for novelty and seeking to extent our experience. Sound bite culture and progressively reduced attention spans are arguably symptoms of this malaise whose downsides we cannot logically eliminate with more of the same. III Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature. IV V Key Questions Is consumerism a necessary and inevitable engine of a capitalist western economy, or a maladaptive and dysfunctional system? What realistic solutions, alternatives or ways forward might there be at individual and global levels? What is a 'consumer false self' and how does it come about? How might Kanner & Gomes' assessment of the relationship between consumerism, advertising, and narcissism be critiqued? In what ways might patterns of consumption or addiction operate in your own life? References

Essential Clinebell, H. (1996). [Chapter 2: Humankind's Earthy Roots.] Cushman, P. (1990). Why is the Self Empty? - towards an historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 40(5), 599-611. Roszak et al (1995). [Chapters by Glendinning: Technology, Trauma & Wild; Metzner: The Psychopathology of the Human-Nature Relationship; Durning: Are We Happy Yet?; Kanner & Gomes: The All-Consuming Self in Ecopsychology.] Recommended Abram, David (1996). The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. 5

* Axelrod & Suedfeld. (1995). Technology, Capitalism and Christianity: are they really the three horsemen of the eco-collapse? Journal of Environmental Psychology. 15, 183-195. Csikzentmihalyi, Mihalyi (1992). Flow: The Psychology of Happiness. Durning, Alan (1992). How Much Is Enough?: The Consumer Society and the Future of the Earth (The World Watch Environmental Alert Series). Earthscan. [Chapter 3: The Dubious Rewards of Consumption; Chapter 9: The Cultivation of Needs; Chapter 10: A Culture of Permanence] Hillman, James and Ventura, Michael (1993). We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy, and the World's Getting Worse. Howard, G The tragedy of maximization. http://isis.csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/1097/howard.htm * Keepin, W. (1991). Toward an ecological psychology. ReVision, 14 (2), 90-101. [includes discussion on addiction.] * Scull J The separation from more-than-human nature. www.island.net/~jscull/separate.htm Shepard, Paul (1982) Nature and Madness. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. * Van Tine, R Gaeaphobia: Ecophobia, ecomania and otherness in the late 20th century. www.ecopsychology.org/gatherings2/robin.htm Wachtel, Paul (1989). The Poverty of Affluence. Philadelphia: New Society. * Walsh, R. (1991]. Toward a psychology of sustainability. ReVision. 14 (2) 61-66. Winter, D. (1996). [Chapter 3: Social psychology: the impact of other people; Chapter 4: Unconscious Conflicts; Freud and the Psychoanalytic Tradition.]

********************************** Optional Berdik, Chris (2000). Selling the Cure for Shopaholism. Mother Jones Online. May 23. http://www.mojones.com/news_wire/shopaholic.html Clinebell, H. (1996). [Chapter 4: Spiritual, ethical, cosmological and meaning-of-life issues in ecotherapy and ecoeducation.] James, Oliver (1998). Britain on the Couch: Treating a Low Serotonin Society. Johnson, S. (1987). Humanising the Narcissistic Style. * Conn, Sarah (1995). When the Earth Hurts, Who Responds? In Roszak et al (1995). Winter, D. (1996). [Chapter 1: What on Earth are we Doing? [for figures re consumption.] responses to Cushman's article: Col (1991). Some comments on the empty self - a reply to Philip Cushman. American Psychologist. 46 (5). Cushman (1991). No empty fixes: a rejoinder to Rostafinski, Ellis and Col. American Psychologist. 46 (5), 542-543 Ellis (1991). How to fix the empty self. American Psychologist. 46 (5), 539-540. Rostafinski (1991). Why the self looks empty: comment on Cushman. American Psychologist. 46 (5), 541-542.

Session 9 Healing with Nature - Reconnecting to our Relationship with Earth I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: II A grasp of the empirical evidence of the restorative effects of the natural environment An awareness of some theoretical frameworks for these effects An outline of some therapeutic approaches to working in and with nature to facilitate healing and reconnection An understanding of therapeutic applications of deep ecology Awareness of research literature exploring the therapeutic aspects of wilderness experience Session Outline

What is the role of the natural environment in human health and wellbeing? Can 'connecting with nature' give emotional nourishment, and possibly fill needs not met by other people? This session will consider perspectives from ecopsychology as well as empirical and theoretical contributions from environmental psychology on the restorative effects of the natural environment. Part of the work of ecopsychology in developing a new psychology of our relationship to the Earth. John Mack (1991) describes this as including not only a body of theory to help understand or interpret our relationship to the environment, but also to develop ways of working therapeutically with clients (and ourselves) to allow and validate thoughts and feelings relating to the environment. This is in contrast with the interpretation that many orthodox psychodynamically-oriented therapists might offer that of automatically pathologising 'pain for the world' (Macy 1998) as displaced or projected personal conflicts. Therapy tends to address personal problems, often ignoring how they are interrelated with social, economic, political issues, or the larger context of the degradation of the biosphere. A relational psychology of the Earth includes our connectedness to other people and creatures as well as to the earth itself as a living entity; many also argue that we need to experience our 'connection with the earth' as sacred, thus the field can include a powerful spiritual element. Reports of experiences of and in nature often report profound, almost mystical and deeply spiritual feelings, and such authors argue that they can powerfully reconnect us to the sacred in ourselves and to Earth. Various therapeutic methods have been developed to help us more directly experience the 'living reality' of the Earth. Roszak (1992) suggests that 'when the Earth hurts, we hurt with it.' Some therapists, such as clinical psychologist Sarah Conn, believe that people's emotional ties to the Earth are as important as their personal relationships. She redefines mental health to include the quality of our relationship with the rest of life, and has developed ways of working psychotherapeutically outdoors such as 'soul-tracking in nature', and practices which can help us experience in our everyday lives our embeddedness in the whole. You will be offered the opportunity' to participate first-hand in some 'ecotherapy' exercises during the residential. Additionally, weather and circumstances permitting, you will have the opportunity to spend an extended time alone in nature. This period together will also include the opportunity to reflect singly and in groups on the significance of such activities and their relation to other outdoor pursuits and other 5

aspects of life. Here, we will explore some potential roots and explanations of such experiences. Why outdoors? Stress management is a key perceived benefit of nature-based recreation experiences. Many researchers suggest these are a quest for tranquillity and an escape from many factors in the urban environment including noise (Lucas 1964); crowding (Lime & Cushwa 1969); the city and fast pace of life (Foresta 1980); stimulus overload (Rossman & Ulehla 1977), and; social threat (Campbell et al 1968). In research asking people about their motivation for pursuing activities in the outdoors, nature has been identified as a place where people have more control over their actions (Downing & Clark 1987); where they are less accountable for the consequences of their actions (Catton 1969); are subject to fewer demands imposed by humans (Kaplan & Talbot 1983); and have greater control over stimulation intensity (Twight et al 1981). The pursuit of activities in the outdoors is thus seen as a way of coping (Knopf 1983, Wellman 1979). However, outdoor pursuits are not simply about social withdrawal, and other research has demonstrated that people actually seek the kind of social interaction that occurs in outdoor leisure settings such as companionship (Bryan 1980), sociability (Etzkorn 1965); sharing (Kaplan 1973); meeting new people (McCay & Moeller 1976). Although other motives for pursuing outdoor engagement includes the quest for competence, achievement, mastery and skill (Knopf 1987) such as with outdoor sports, an important motivation is the quest for natural stimuli in itself (e.g. Kaplan & Kaplan 1989, Rossman & Ulehla 1977). There is clearly something inherent in natural stimuli, the sights, sounds and smells, that is of value. Big versus small Are the benefits of nature dependent upon scale - can only wilderness foster beneficial effects? Or can the window box too? The growing evidence that natural environments are restorative demonstrates that benefits can be derived from nearby 'small-scale' nature as well as more expansive experiences in wilderness (though the question of whether there might be qualitative differences has not been well answered). The speed of recovery found in laboratory settings as well as in field studies raises the possibility that stress mitigation is possible in many settings, so that design implications need to be carefully considered in, for instance, landscaping. We spend 85% of our time indoors. Hence, given that most of us are urban dwellers and few of us feel we can spare the time to indulge in specific 'ecotherapy', probably the most significant effects on our mood and levels of stress on a day to day basis may be had by creating healthier, healing buildings (Day 1990). Building, today generally done by professional builders following standard, built-forspeed-and-economy, non-place specific designs, can more closely involve those who are to live there in the design and construction, and the end result can then more easily incorporate personalising features and the curved forms of nature (Alexander 1979). It is possible even to plan and build large-scale developments which take considerably greater pains than is normal to follow the contours, features and scale of natural surroundings (McHarg 1969). Left to their own devices people build in a huge variety of vernacular styles remarkable for their aesthetic beauty, compared to boxy, industrially-produced buildings (Rudofsky 1981), and plan communities in functional ways (Rapoport 1968). Healing with nature Nature can be experienced as a place of solace and acceptance, and various therapeutic techniques drawing on beneficial effects of nature include ecotherapy, horticultural therapy, wilderness therapy, animal therapy (Clinebell 1996). Conn (1995) discusses the role of an 'ecologically responsible 5

psychotherapy' and has developed techniques to direct client's attention to the ecological context of their distress, and emphasises the important of active engagement in community or environmental projects. Using nature or objects in nature allows a different kind of language, using imagery and allowing the natural world to 'speak to us'. In particular, traditional healing approaches, e.g. shamanistic techniques of directly working in and with nature tend to use these methods (Gray 1995). Clinebell (1996) discusses ways of overcoming ecoalienation, and facilitating ecobonding, and describes a variety of ecotherapy methods that link with the major psychotherapeutic approaches (Clinebell 1996, Chapter 5). [While Clinebell tends to describe ecotherapeutic experiences through psychotherapeutic models, Burns (1998) goes wider, breaking such experiences down into sensory elements and introducing primary evidence: if you are intending to apply such techniques we strongly recommend this book.] If it is possible to develop bonds with nature, it may be that, as with human relationships, those bonds are ones that attach us to specific individuals, and analogously with nature that might imply particular locations (or animals, or trees, etc). Places are both objects of people's interest, and causes of moods and feelings. Place attachment - the sense of rootedness people feel in and towards certain places, is a significant sub-field of behavioural geography. One might speculate as to whether the full range of human relational experiences are possible in this context - for instance what is the analogy for feeling a sense of psychological ownership of a piece of land? Mental geography Children and infants, it seems, are 'natural' geographers, insofar as they can learn about and find their way around places without specific adult instruction. This lends support to the notion that there are evolutionary origins to our mental handling of environmental cues. Both children and adults learn from the earliest ages to navigate about places through exploration, leading to the notion that we effectively create maps in our minds - cognitive mapping (Matthews 1992, see index for numerous mentions). However within this field of behavioural geography the argument over innateness continues: while nativism suggests that our knowledge of how to navigate across territory is present at birth and empiricism argues that it comes entirely through exploration of the reality we encounter, connectionism & constructivism maintain that we are born, or rather develop naturally, certain predispositions which help us learn about places, but that this is never complete until we have actually explored a place and, in so doing, reinforced pathways in the brain (Mathews1992). Of course many in the social sciences hold fast to the view that relations to place are entirely constructions of culture (Jackson1989). However Paul Devereux - and exponent of what he terms 'psychic archaeology' - has provided some interesting evidence of a more interactive derivation of human meaning in relation to place. His work has involved days and weeks of passive, meditational observation and even sleeping on site at places of ancient and sacred significance. Often the reasons for such significance have been lost. However Devereux have been able to make important intuitive leaps based on their own lengthy observations that provide credible explanations to the locations of certain monuments - for instance spotting a natural rock sphinx-like formation in Egypt at a previously unexplained sacred site. The implication of course being that the meaning of such places can arise only through deep perceptual familiarity with the place, or at least with one's own ability to perceive at a deep and intuitive level (Devereux 1996). Some might explain Feng Shui similarly. Good Grief How do we feel about our love or attachment for nature, or a particular place or species? Are we able to acknowledge what it might meant to us, to acknowledge the 'nature and depth of our biological and ecological loves' (Windle 1995). How do we feel about ecological losses, species extinction and habitat destruction? Do we feel numb, cut off and distant? Might we be inhibiting the pain of grief? Our culture offers no support for acknowledging or expressing such grief. There are a number of well5

characterised stages to grief and grieving including shock/numbness, denial, anger, sadness, depression/despair, and acceptance. The impact of alienation from nature, from ourselves links with denial and addiction was considered in a previous session. Experiential deep ecology work allows the experiencing of this grief, despair and rage emphasises the importance of naming, owning, reclaiming, including, and embracing this pain, on individual and cultural levels, and the importance of ritual in mourning. For example the despair & empowerment work developed by Joanna Macy (Winter 1996, p148) and the deep ecology work developed by John Seed & Joanna Macy uses specially created rituals to express these feelings. (Macy 1991, 1998, Seed et al 1988) Ecological perception and mindfulness Laura Sewall (1995) suggests that our five major senses are the fundamental avenues of connection between self and world (Cohen 1997 claims to have identified 53 natural senses!). She argues that the deadening of our senses is a central part of the environmental crisis and that reawakening them is a key step towards renewing our bond with the Earth. Developing ecological perception involves cultivating attentiveness, or mindfulness - as opposed to psychic numbing - and perceiving relationships between things rather than just 'things'. The practices she offers to facilitate this process focus particularly on visual perception, and fostering receptivity and a sense of 'being with'. Sewall also discusses evidence that changing attentional patterns may physically alter the neural pathways in the brain, emphasising the importance of becoming conscious of how and where our attention is directed. Wilderness psychology This includes both wilderness experience and wilderness therapy, including solo camping trips, vision quests, and rites of passage. Many people report experiencing profound or dramatic changes when they spend time in the wilderness, and talk about feelings of expansion and reconnection. This can be a powerful way to explore one's relationship with nature. If we can be still and open enough to listen, 'the wilderness itself will teach us' (Harper 1995). What exactly is this 'wilderness effect'? To what extent are we able to leave 'culture' behind? Might these experiences be an expansion of 'self', or a reconnection with our evolutionary past still somewhere in our psyches'? From the changing patterns of dreams people report when in the wilderness, Greenway (1995) suggests that our culture is only four days deep, and the experiences of sitting round fires with tribe-like communities are not far below our cultural programming. Clare Cooper Marcus (1999) outlines pattern of emotional changes that studies on wilderness experience have identified (e.g. Hartig et al (1991) compared proofreading scores for three groups who went on a wilderness trip, an urban vacation or no vacation. Only the wilderness vacationers showed improved scores. There is a large body of research into many aspects of the benefits of time in wilderness (e.g. Friese et al 1995), including the various psychological benefits of leisure, concrete physical or health benefits, importance of solitude, more abstract benefits such as development of self-identity, or spiritual development. There are some similarities with mystic or peak experiences. A 'natural' way to be Is there a 'natural' human way to be, explained as either or both of a genetic or culturally archetypal legacy from earlier human origins, involving living in bands, clans or tribes, gatherer-hunter closeness to and necessary intimate relationship with the natural world, including a mindset of siblinghood with other species? Evidence can be drawn for such a hypothesis from many sources including some such as evolutionary psychology mentioned earlier in this Modules. However it is hard to see how anything but circumstantial evidence can be marshalled. However two very personally-written books examining the 'natural' imperatives of childhood pose some tantalising questions. Joseph Chilton Pearce's Magical Child argues for the 'matrix' - the evolutionary familiar, holistic, developmental web of environments and relationships to which we are heir and which modern life often disrupts in significant ways. One critical way, he argues, is touch - western, 'civilised' peoples are deprived of it; in addition, he believes that education is agonistic and unnecessary (i.e. 6

against the natural pattern) (Pearce 1992), a point which gains some endorsement from mainstream psychology, where one Professor maintains that 'children educate themselves' (Trevarthen, Colwyn, personal communication). Jean Liedloff claims in The Continuum Concept that a critical factor in natural child rearing is that the child is given decision-making authority over itself from birth. The Amazonian tribes with whom she lived for some years are said to bring up emotionally mature children who seamlessly become selfsustaining adults. These cultures are said to integrate infants into everyday life with little special treatment, tolerate the child's exploratory urge even to the point of putting itself in significant danger, yet never fail to respond to signs of hunger or distress by holding the child next to the skin for reassurance (Liedloff 1989). It may be that the movement in the last generation toward so called natural childbirth and greater emphasis on parental leave is a reflection here of congruent attitudes (or 'human nature') surfacing irresistibly against the tide of modern pressures. Perhaps nature will yet win out. III Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature supplemented by opportunities for personal and group experiences during the residential. IV V Key Questions Why do we find nature attractive? Is an appreciation of nature culturally determined or innate? How do the restorative effects of nature occur? What criticisms might there be of studies of such effects, or limitations in their design? How do we translate our experiences 'in nature' into social or academic discourse? To what extent can individual symptoms or problems be seen as the signals of distress in the larger ecosystem, as the 'voice of the earth' speaking through? Does therapy generally try to adapt people to fit dysfunctional world? Is it useful/accurate to see their symptoms as expressions of earth's pain, of a society and world out of balance? How was your experience? Your own key question? References

Essential Roszak et al (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind. [Numerous Chapters including Macy: Working through environmental despair; Windle: The Ecology of Grief; O'Connor: Therapy for a Dying Planet; Conn, Sarah: When the Earth Hurts, Who Responds?; Greenway: The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology; Harper: The Way of Wilderness] Clinebell, H. (1996). Ecotherapy. [Chapter 3 - Healing Persons by Healing the Earth; Chapters 8 & 9 Methods of Ecotherapy and Ecoeducation/Grounded Healing and Growth Work] Burns, G (1998) Nature-Guided Therapy: Brief Integrative Strategies for Health and Well-Being. Recommended General & Ecotherapy Clinebell, H. (1996). Ecotherapy. [Chapter 5: Resources for Ecotherapy and Ecoeducation from other Therapies and Cultures] 6

Cohen, Michael (1997). Reconnecting with Nature: Finding wellness through restoring your bond with the Earth. Cooper Marcus C (1999) Conference Paper at For the Love of Nature? conference: Nature as Healer: therapeutic benefits in outdoor places. Gray (1995). Shamanic Counseling and Ecopsychology in Roszak et al Kaplan (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 169-182. Kaplan R & Kaplan S (1989) The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press. Liedloff, Jean (1989). The Continuum Concept. [trust the natural pattern - children need to be able to explore but always return to base to be held, critically against the skin] * Mack, John (1991). Inventing a psychology of our relationship to Earth. ReVision, 14(2), 102-106. Oelschlaeger, Max (1993). The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology. Yale University Press. Pearce, Joseph (1992). Magical Child. [idea of the maturational environment being an ever expanding matrix - which derives from the word for mother - beginning with the womb and moving through the earth and beyond] Rohde, Christa L. E. & Kendle, A. D. (1994). Human Well-being, Natural Landscapes and Wildlife in Urban Areas: A Review. English Nature. Rush, A (1997) A presence that disturbs psychoanalysis and conservation. http://isis/csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/0597/rush.htm: Sewall, L (1999) Sight and Sensibility: The Ecopsychology of Perception Putnam Publishing Group Stokols, D. & Altman, I. (1987). Handbook of Environmental Psychology. New York: Wiley Swanson, J (1997) Prescribing nature exploring the subjective frontiers of nature. http://isis/csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/0398/swanson.htm Tennessen & Cimprich (1995). Views to nature: effects on attention. Journal of Environmental Psychology , 15, 77-85 Ulrich (1981). Natural Versus Urban Scenes - some psycho-physiological effects. Environment and Behaviour, 15, 5, 523-556 Ulrich et a (1991). Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 11, 201-230 Experiential Deep Ecology Macy, Joanna (1991) World as Lover, World as Self. Parallax Press, Berkeley: California Macy, Joanna (1998) Coming Back to Life - practices to reconnect our lives, our world. New Society Publishers Seed, J, Macy J, Fleming P, Naess A (1988) Thinking Like a Mountain: Toward a Council of All Beings. New Society Publishers Winter, D (1996). Ecological Psychology. [Chapter 4: Unconscious Conflicts; Freud and the Psychoanalytic Tradition (Section on Using Freud's Ideas p148)] Wilderness * Duncan, G (1998) The Psychological Benefits of Wilderness in Ecopsychology Online no 6 http://isis/csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/Final/duncan.htm Friese, G. T.; Pittman, J. T. & Hendee, J. C. (1995). Studies of the Use of Wilderness for Personal Growth, Therapy, Education and Leadership Development: an Annotation and Evaluation. University of Idaho Wilderness Research Centre. Foster S, Little M (1997) The Roaring of the Sacred River the wilderness quest for vision and selfhealing. Lost Borders Press * Segal, Fran (1997). Ecopsychology and the Uses of Wilderness in Ecopsychology Online, 4. http://isis/csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/1097/segal.htm Swanson J (1997) Prescribing Nature - exploring the subjective frontiers of nature in Ecopsychology Online no 4 http://isis/csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO/1097/intro.htm 6

Talbot J F, Kaplan S (1986) Perspectives on Wilderness: re-examining the value of extended wilderness experiences. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 6, 175-188 * Taylor, S An exploration of wilderness effects: a phenomenological inquiry. www.czone.net/taylors Building Alexander, Christopher (1979).The Timeless Way of Building,. OUP Day, Christopher (1990). Places of the Soul: Architecture and Environmental Design as Healing Art. McHarg, Ian (1969). Design with Nature. Natural History Press. Rapoport, Amos (1968). Village Planning in the Primitive World,. Brasiller. Rudofsky, Bernard (1981). Architecture Without Architects. Academy Editions.

********************************** Optional Abram (1995) The Ecology of Magic in Ecopsychology * Adams, Cass (1996). The Soul Unearthed: Celebrating Wildness and Personal Renewal Through Nature. New York, Putnam Books. Bell et al (1996). Environmental Psychology. Harcourt Brace & Co. [Chapter 13 (includes short section on use of wilderness)] Bonnes & Secchiaroli (1995). Environmental Psychology - a psychosocial introduction Sage Publications (UK) * Bragg, E. (1997). Ecopsychology and Academia: Bridging the Paradigms. From Ecopsychology Online, 2, (on redressing the unnecessary division between Ecopsychology and Environmental Psychology) Cohen, M. Project NatureConnect : http://www.ecopsych.com Cooper Marcus C, Barnes M (1995). Gardens in Health Care Facilities: Uses, therapeutic benefits and design recommendations. Martinez CA: The Center for Health design Inc. Devereux, Paul (1996). Re-Visioning the Earth: A Guide to Opening the Channels Between Mind and Nature. Hartig T, Mang M, Evans G W (1991) Restorative effects of natural environment experiences. Environment and Behaviour 23, 3-26 Herzog et al (1997). Reflection and attentional recovery as distinctive benefits of restorative environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 165-170. Oelschlaeger, M. (date t.b.c.). Contemporary Wilderness Philosophy, and Cosmos and Wilderness Chapter from The Idea of Wilderness: From Prehistory to the Age of Ecology. * Reser, J. P. (1995). Whither Environmental Psychology? The Transpersonal Ecopsychology Crossroads. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 235-257 critical discussion on the relationship between environmental psychology and ecopsychology Russell & Snodgrass (1987). Emotion and the Environment. In Stokols, D. & Altman, I. (Eds.). Handbook of Environmental Psychology. New York: Wiley. * Smail, David (1991). Towards a Radical Environmentalist Psychology of Help. The Psychologist, 2, 61-65.

Session 10 Across the Divide: Consciousness in the Non-Human What is it like to be a pig in a small barren pen? An introduction to the scientific study of animal consciousness and welfare. [Dr Francoise Wemelsfelder, Scottish Agricultural College Edinburgh] I Learning Outcomes

By the end of this Session, you will have: A knowledge of important themes in current scientific debates on animal consciousness and welfare, and an ability to think critically about these themes An understanding of the development of scientific thought on animal consciousness from Darwin onwards An awareness of the different types of research on animal consciousness currently taking place, including the main philosophical themes which shape the modern approach to animal consciousness An appreciation of the role of scientific research on animal consciousness in providing better lives for animals in society Session Outline

II

The session will consist of about 2 hours of lecturing, and 2 hours of discussion both in small groups and with the whole group. 1. Lecture 1: The science of animal consciousness: history, current experimental approaches, unresolved issues. 2. Discussion. 3. Lecture 2: The philosophy of animal consciousness: definitions of consciousness and subjective experience, problems in the objective study of subjective experiences, the role of consciousness research in the animal welfare debate. 4. Discussion. III Teaching Procedure

Guided reading of literature. In small discussion groups students will be asked to discuss these themes and formulate their own views. IV Key Questions

The question of whether or not animals are conscious not only is tolerated again in modern science, it even has become fashionable. Scientists are excited by the renewed quest for the 'last frontier' of science, the understanding of consciousness. But the problem of animal consciousness is not just the latest desirable object for research, it reflects deeper and murkier waters than many scientists are willing to explore. 6

First of all, unlike specialized scientists, most lay people consider it blindingly obvious that animals are conscious and capable of suffering. We know our dogs, and are certain of their intelligence and emotional depths. However, pigs are very much like dogs, yet we grow pigs by the millions in dark barren cages barely big enough to turn. As a society, we are not convinced these pigs suffer, and therefore request scientific evidence. This sets off a large array of questions which are exceedingly difficult to answer. What is consciousness? What is subjective experience? Can we measure it, and how? If humans have it, then why not animals, and if animals do not have it, then what about humans, or human babies? Why is it so obvious to lay people that animals are conscious when science does not even know how to begin to answer these questions? Is common sense perhaps useless, or is science blind, and to what? And finally, should society wait for scientists to make sense of these questions before it acts to improve the lives of animals? And if not, then who decides what is acceptable treatment of animals and what not? These questions reflect themes that are important generally in our relationship with nature and the environment. However issues of animal consciousness have the advantage that they relate to individual animals, and thus are quite tangible. People will find it easier to accept that animals have feelings than that ecosystems have them. They will be more hesitant to accept that animals are mechanical automatons than they would be with ecosystems. The problem of animal consciousness raises questions about the mechanistic character of scientific methodology, which would be even harder to raise elsewhere. Are the physical bodies of humans and animals really machines, and if so, then where does consciousness hide? If common sense tells us that it is obvious that animals are conscious, does this mean that perhaps their bodies are not purely machines? But this goes against everything modern biological science holds dear; most scientists are unwilling to question their entire methodology just for the sake of investigating animal consciousness, last frontier or not. So... are our bodies machines? And if science says so but we feel they are not, who do we believe? These are some key questions that this session will address. The important goal will not be to find answers, but to learn how to think about them. A more detailed reference list for further reading will be provided at the session. V References

Essential Wemelsfelder, Francoise (1997). Investigating the animal's point of view. [provided by author - copies will be made available] Recommended Bekoff, Marc (1998). Deep ethology, animal rights, and the great ape/animal project: resisting speciesism and expanding the community of equals. Journal of agricultural and environmental ethics 10: 269-296. Crook, John H. (1983). On attributing consciousness to animals. Nature 303, 11-14. Midgley, Mary (1998). One world, but a big one. In: Rose S (ed) From brains to consciousness? Essays on the new sciences of the mind pp 246-270. Penguin Books: London. Nagel, Thomas (1986). The View from Nowhere. [read introduction and first chapter called 'Mind'] Rose, Hilary (1999). Changing constructions of consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6, 251-258. Optional Greenfield, Susan (1999). How might the brain generate consciousness? In Rose, Steven (Ed.), From Brain to consciousness? Penguin. 6

Finally... As you know, this Module is a British first. As such, it has been an exploratory journey for both you as student and for the Course Tutors. Never before, to our knowledge, have the various experiences, theories and pieces of evidence presented here been brought together in this configuration; and never before taught at postgraduate (and probably undergraduate) level in the UK. Inevitably there will have been ideas with which you concur and others with which you disagree, evidence that you accept and arguments whose validity you doubt. We welcome robust discussion, for instance in your assignments. We also strongly welcome your feedback, both on the content (is it coherent? sufficient? patchy? biased?) and the delivery (is the reading/experience balance satisfactory? where and how would you have wished for more support?). We want to know how we can enhance the learning experience, for we as a team will be developing this subject field here and in other ways, and others will follow where you have dared to tread. We hope some of you will feel moved to join us in that endeavour. Thank you for being with us.

APPENDIX 1 Some additional relevant papers from journals with special editions on ecopsychology are also listed below. These papers are also available in the CHE library. From Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol 41, No 2, Spring 2001 Kuhn, James L: Toward an ecological Humanistic Psychology. pp 9-24 Pilisuk, Marc: Ecological Psychology, caring and the boundaries of the person. pp 25-37 Riebel, Linda: Consuming the Earth: eating disorders and ecopsychology. pp 38-58 Richards, Ruth: A new aesthetic for environmental awareness: chaos theory, the beauty of nature and our broader humanistic identity. pp 59-95 Yunt, Jeremy: Jungs contribution to an ecological psychology. pp 96-121 From The Humanistic Psychologist, Vol 26 (1-3) 1998 Aanstoos, Christopher M: Humanistic Psychology and Ecopsychology (preface) pp 3-4 The Significance of Place to Ecopsychology Roberts, Elizabeth J: Place and the human spirit. pp 5-34 Metzner, Ralph: The place and the story: ecopsychology and bioregionalism. pp 35-49 Day, Matthew: Ecopsychology and the restoration of home. pp 51-68 Approaches to Ecopsychology Davis, John: The transpersonal dimensions of ecopsychology: nature, nonduality and spiritual practice. pp 69-100 Kanner, Alan D: Mount Rushmore Syndrome: when narcissism rules the Earth. pp 101-122 Hoffman, Chris: The hoop and the tree: an ecological model of health. Pp 123-154 Anthony, Carl & Soule, Renee: A multicultural approach to ecopsychology. pp 155-162 Healing Practices in Ecopsychology Sewall, Laura: Looking for a worldview: perceptual practice in an ecological age. pp 163-178 Conn, Sarah A: Living in the earth: ecopsychology, health and psychotherapy. pp 179-198 Foster, Steven: The yellow brick road: coming of age in the wilderness. pp 199-216 Gomes, Mary E: Personal transformation and social change: conversations with ecopsychologists in action. pp 217-241 Feral, Crystal-Helen: The connectedness model and optimal development: is ecopsychology the answer to emotional wellbeing. pp 243-274 Thomashow, Mitchell: The ecopsychology of global environment change. pp 275-300 Horesh, Theo: Discovering and providing for the experience of nature. pp 301-312

APPENDIX II A www.google.com search for ecopsychology will access several relevant sites you may have already explored, but a few of these are listed below. www.ecopsychology.org International Community for Ecopsychology The International Community for Ecopsychology (ICE) is an informal, international, interdisciplinary virtual community devoted to reflecting on the questions which arise from an ecopsychological viewpoint, proving a public forum for our diverse experiences of the human-nature relationship. Includes Gatherings - Seeking Ecopsychology an online quarterly e-journal and some excellent links to other useful sites. Quote from the site: Ecopsychology is a new, inter-dependent way of thinking that links a complex number of subjects, including ecology, environmental science, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, education, imagination and spirituality. Weve gathered here on this page from all around the world to share our ideas and dreams and fears about this compelling matrix. In the exchange of energy we hope to create around the fire of our electronic connection here, we'll be using many different kinds of language; telling stories and making music out of academic discourse, poetry, the beat of heart-felt rant, the chimes of laughter and the shrill saxaphone blues of lament. We hope that you find this e-zine enjoyable, and a way 'in' to your own exploration of Ecopsychology and what it might mean to you. http://ecopsychology.athabascau.ca Ecopsychology Online The Ecopsychology Institute at California State University, Hayward, founded by Theodore Roszak, used to produce the on-line quarterly journal Ecopsychology Newsletter which is now discontinued but still available on archive. The old website: http://isis.csuhayward.edu/ALSS/ECO still links to the archived journals. The new website above takes you to edition no 6 go to Archives at bottom of page to access the previous 5 editions. http://centerchange.org The Ecopsychology Institute: Reconnecting Earth and Human Health Part of the Center for Psychology and Social Change at Harvard, the Ecopsychology Institute was established by clinical psychologist Dr Sarah Conn and others in recognition that human health and the health of the earth are inseparable. Includes information about training courses, events, example practice, excellent articles, other resources and links. www.ecopsych.com Project NatureConnect The work of Michael Cohen. Includes a large web-site, online courses, information and perspectives on applied ecopsychology, educating and counselling with nature etc.