Conservation psychology aims to understand human motivations and behaviors towards the environment to design effective interventions for conservation efforts. It explores cultural perspectives, individual and collective thoughts and feelings, and the bond between humans and animals. It differs from environmental psychology, which focuses on how the environment affects humans. Conservation psychologists collaborate with experts from other disciplines to raise awareness of conservation issues.
Conservation psychology is the examination of how people view and interact with nature and aims to design interventions to further conservation efforts. Understanding the dynamics that lead people to ignore or support environmental sustainability is useful for implementing change. Close scrutiny sometimes reveals that people don’t feel powerful enough to make a big impact through individual effort. Observing cultural perspectives is also useful for understanding different viewpoints and designing effective interventions. Conservation psychology is typically distinguished from environmental psychology, which usually focuses less on promoting conservation and more on how the environment affects people.
The main goal of conservation psychology is to inspire behavioral changes with respect to environmental sustainability. By talking to individuals and groups, understanding environmental issues, and observing cognitive and behavioral patterns, psychologists in this field work to understand human motivations regarding the environment. When you better understand the motivations for ignoring conservation calls or for adopting environmentally conscious behaviors, it often becomes easier to develop effective strategies to raise awareness and change behaviors on a larger scale.
Conservation psychology explores deeper issues related to human motivation and conservation. While on the surface it may appear that a person is not interested in helping the environment, the real problem may be that they feel powerless or that, on a large scale, personal changes would be irrelevant. It is often necessary to break down the concept of environment into smaller aspects to which individuals and groups can relate. Exploring the bond between humans and animals is an area of close observation. Tapping into the calming effects of nature is also a strategy for creating awareness of the need for conservation.
Cultural influences, values and priorities are also closely observed in the psychology of conservation. People of some cultures don’t keep wild animals as pets, but people of other cultures do. Members of some societies eat certain animals, but care deeply about the conservation of other animals. Understanding what causes sympathy for some animals and less concern for others is one of the tasks of conservation psychology. By understanding individual and collective thoughts and feelings, culturally appropriate strategies can be developed to raise conservation awareness and promote activism.
Although conservation psychology is similar to environmental psychology, it is generally understood that the latter places a greater focus on how the environment affects humans. Dialogue with experts from other disciplines is an important part of the conservation psychologist’s work. Policy makers, educators, sociologists, environmental activists, and communication experts are the various types of people these psychologists communicate with to raise greater awareness of conservation issues.
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