Practical 2 - Psychology of Climate Change Flashcards
What is reliability?
The consistency and stability of a research design, ensuring it produces similar results under consistent conditions.
What is validity?
The extent to which a research design accurately captures what it is intended to measure.
What are confounds?
Variables that influence the dependent variable (e.g., additional variables, selection bias)
What are the impacts of climate change on physical health?
- Effects of rising temperatures, extreme weather events, air pollution, and food insecurity.
- Increased prevalence of heat-related illnesses, respiratory conditions, and vector-borne diseases.
What are the impacts of climate change on mental health?
- Direct effects of trauma related to climate disasters (e.g., trauma, PTSD).
- Chronic stress and anxiety from living in vulnerable or at-risk regions.
What are the impacts of climate change on the community and social health?
Loss of homes, livelihoods, and displacement and dissolving social ties (decreasing social capital) due to climate disasters.
What current phenomena is being studied?
- Climate anxiety
- Eco anxiety
- Eco distress
What is climate anxiety?
The fear of future impacts of global warming and systemic collapse (feelings of worry, hopelessness, existential dread).
What is eco anxiety?
Broader worries about environmental degradation (feelings of shame and guilt, anger and frustration, being overwhelmed).
What is eco distress?
Emotional toll of witnessing or experiencing loss and harm in the natural world (Anger, grief and despair, emotional fatigue).
What was the purpose of Stanley et al, 2021 study?
- Explore how distinct eco-emotions influence mental health outcomes.
- Pro-climate behaviours (personal actions and collective actions).
What is the methodology of Stanley et al, 2021 study?
3,063 Australians who believe in human-caused climate change.
What are the measures of Stanley et al, 2021 study?
- Levels of eco-anger, eco-anxiety, and eco-depression.
- Depression, anxiety, and stress levels (DASS-21).
- Frequency of personal (e.g., recycling) and collective actions (e.g., protests) related to climate action.
What are the differentiated roles of eco emotions?
- Eco anger
- Eco anxiety
- Eco depression
What is eco anger?
- Approach and solution-focused.
- Predicts both personal behaviours (e.g., recycling) and collective actions (e.g., protests).
- Possible protective factor (lower depression, anxiety, stress).
What is eco anxiety?
- Activating but leads to avoidance behaviours.
- Associated with decreased mental health and lower engagement in collective actions.
What is eco depression?
- Deactivating, linked to poor mental health.
- Motivates collective action, possibly due to seeking social capital and agency.
What are the multi-level responses according to Dietz et al, 2020?
- Micro level
- Meso level
- Macro level
- Cross-level
What are the micro level solutions?
- Individual actions (e.g., reducing waste, sustainable decisions, recycling).
- Grassroots initiatives such as urban gardening and peer support groups.
- Public mental health resources for eco-anxiety and climate-related trauma (e.g., information)
What are the meso level solutions?
- Climate-informed public health strategies and professional training for key gatekeepers.
- Health and social care systems with competence relating to climate-related challenges.
- Schools teaching climate literacy, research, and opportunities for skills development.
- Sustainable infrastructure (e.g., green spaces, disaster readiness).
What are the macro level solutions?
- Climate adaptation/mitigation strategies and related policies
- Government incentives back with relevant infrastructure.
- Paris Agreement, international funding for vulnerable regions.
- WHO and UN linking climate and health in global health policies.
What are the cross-level considerations?
- Inequities related to demographics, socio-economic factors, psychosocial factors, geographic locations.
- How to harness micro- and meso-level factors to inform macro-level factors.
- How macro-level factors can enable/restrict meso- and micro-level factors.
- Recent news: Labour pushing for a ban of new petrol cars by 2030. Is there appropriate infrastructure in place?
What are human factors in respect to climate change?
- Perceived legitimacy
- Psychological, temporal, and physical distance
- Sense of agency and self-efficacy
- Cultural norms and the media
- Social influence
- Hope and positive vision
What is perceived legitimacy?
- Recognising the crisis as real and urgent.
- Overcoming narratives such as “This won’t happen to us.”
What is psychological, temporal, and physical distance?
- Closing the gap between future and present threats.
- Highlighting personal relevance and local examples.
What is a sense of agency and self-efficacy?
- Empowering individuals with actionable steps on an individual basis.
- Emphasising the impact of collective action.
What are cultural norms and the media?
- Films such as “Don’t Look Up” illustrate societal denial.
- Shifting from apocalyptic to solution-oriented messaging.
What is social influence?
- The role of leaders, peers, and societal norms in driving change.
- Normalising climate-conscious behaviours (intrinsic motivation).
- Considering the ‘quid pro quo’ of reciprocity (extrinsic motivation).
What is having hope and positive action?
- Counteracting paralysis with understanding what is within the remit of an individual.
- Focusing on opportunities for progress and resilience.
What pathology challenges are specific to the NHS?
- New phenomena
- Not fully understood
- Nebulous and not fully understood (or accepted).
- What I call the effect of ‘branding’
- Not clear how to provide support (think about validity)
- Are these discreet pathologies? Transdiagnostic considerations?
What challenges are specific to the NHS for service response and care pathways?
- Many services are diagnostic led.
- Lack of understanding of the aetiology of climate emotions
- NHS don’t work so well with misunderstood factors (trauma is certainly one such area).
- Ideologies might influence treatment provided.
