Select an assignment from the list below, or suggest one to your instructor. Please recall that you are asked to vary the types of paper that you submit: one is to contain a personal element, one should be theoretical, and one should address application.
1. Describe a positive experience with the natural environment that you believe has been transformative or deeply restorative for yourself. (If you have not had one, you may wish to go out and try again). Account psychologically for why this was a good experience. Did it change your attitudes or behavior? If so, would these changes cause you to help preserve the environment? Why or why not? Discuss in the context of the literature you have read for the course.
2. Explore the limits of the assumptions of this course: when or where might psychological expertise not be relevant or helpful in solving an environmental crisis? This should be not an example of a failed attempt by an approach that is relevant, but rather a problem for which you think that ecopsychology is irrelevant.
Required Texts
Required texts are available from Stanford Book Store and other outlets.
Metzner, R. (1999). Green psychology: Transforming our relationship to the earth. Rochester, VT: Park Street Press.
Roszak, T., Gomes, M., & Kanner, A. D. (Eds.) (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind. San Francisco: Sierra Club.
Winter, D., & Koger, S. M. (2004). The psychology of environmental problems. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
There is no course reader.
Other Required Readings
Riebel, L.K. (2004). A Paradigm for Sustainability: Limits and Interdependence. Available in the course online.
Saybrook Library Databases
The following required references are available in Saybrook Library Databases:
Adams, W. W. (2006). The ivory-billed woodpecker, ecopsychology, and the crisis of extinction: On annihilating and nurturing other beings, relationships, and ourselves The Humanistic Psychologist, 34 (2), 111–133.
DOI: 10.1207/s15473333thp3402_2 (Available in PsycINFO database).
Berger, R. (2008). Building a home in nature: An innovative framework for practice. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48 (2), 264-279. Originally published online December 11, 2007. Available in Saybrook databases SAGE Publications. DOI: 10.1177/0022167807306990.
Feinberg, M., & Willer, R. (2011). Apocalypse soon? Dire messages reduce belief in global warming by contradicting just-world beliefs. Psychological Science, 22 (1), 34-38. Available at Sage Publications. First published on December 9, 2010. doi:10.1177/0956797610391911.
Gaard, G. (2002). Vegetarian ecofeminism. Frontiers 23 (3), 117-146. (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
No publisher is listed for this journal. Following is the url for the article:
https://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.humanisticpsychology.org:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=110&sid=01703246-fed1-4690-aa53-201ba12373f4%40sessionmgr111.
Gattig, A., & Hendrickx, L.(2007). Judgmental discounting and environmental risk perception: Dimensional similarities, domain differences, and implications for sustainability. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (1), 21-39. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00494.x (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
Gifford, R. (2007). Environmental psychology and sustainable development: Expansion, maturation, and challenges. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (1), 199-212. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00503.x (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
Joy, M. (2005).Humanistic psychology and animal rights: Reconsidering the boundaries of the humanistic ethic. doi:10.1177/0022167804272628Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 45 (1), 106-130. (Available in SAGE Publications database).
Kazdin, A. E. (2009). Psychological science’s contributions to a sustainable environment: Extending our reach to a grand challenge of society. American Psychologist, 64 (5), 339-356. DOI: 10.1037/a0015685(Available in PsycArticles database).
Kovan, J. T., & Dirkx, J. M. (2003). “Being called awake”: The role of transformative learning in the lives of environmental activists. Adult Education Quarterly, 53 (2), 99-118. DOI: 10.1177/0741713602238906(Available in Academic Search Premier database).
Lindenberg, S., & Steg, L. (2007). Normative, gain and hedonic goal frames guiding environmental behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (1), 117—137.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00499.x (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
Pilisuk, M. (2001). Ecological psychology, caring, and the boundaries of the person. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41 (2), 25-37. doi:10.1177/0022167801412004 (Available in SAGE Publications database).
Stokols, D., Misra, S., Runnerstrom, M. G., & Hipp, J.A. (2009). Psychology in an age of ecological crisis: From personal angst to collective action. DOI: 10.1037/a0014717 American Psychologist 64 (3), 181-193. (Available in PsycArticle database).
van den Berg, A.E., Hartig, R., & Staats, H. (2007). Preference for nature in urbanized societies: Stress, restoration, and the pursuit of sustainability. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (1), 79—96. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00497.x (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
Vlek, C., & Steg, L. (2007). Human behavior and environmental sustainability: Problems, driving forces, and research. Journal of Social Issues, 63 (1), 1-19. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00493.x (Available in PsycArticles database).
White, G. D. (2004). Political Apathy Disorder: Proposal for a new DSM diagnostic category. Journal of Humanistic Psychology 44 (1), 47-57. doi:10.1177/0022167803259255 (Available in SAGE Publications database).
Zelezny, L.C., Chua, P.-P., & Aldrich, C. (2000). Elaborating on gender differences in environmentalism. Journal of Social Issues, 56 (3), 443-457. Blackwell Publishing, blackwell.com. (Available in Academic Search Premier database).
