Psychology 2990A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Kurt Lewin, Peter Kent, Psych
30 Apr 2018
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Chapter 9- Psychology and Environment:
• One of world’s top env hot zones= Alberta’s tar sands- use natural gas melt resource as
dirty as bitumen= v expensive, each barrel needs 3 barrels water and 90% ends back up in
tailing ponds- largest collection toxic waste= death ducks and impacts extend great lakes,
threatening water and air quality around world’s largest body fresh water
• Toxins from tailing ponds seeping into ground water nearby comm and rare cancers doc
comm downstream tailing ponds
• Federal minister Peter Kent unveiled new monitoring plan protect air and water quality
and biodiversity- environmentalists argue more monitoring isn’t issue, gov has to actually
impose legally binding regs on oil-producing companies
• Worry about env issues and own health and fams- more so go to school 40kms away
• Adolescents worried most about health showed higher levels depression
• Live contaminated land report high rates death from cancer and illness among kids in
comm
• Nonhazardous landfill sites create stress and reduce well-being among residents- decision
making process (whether/ not gov allowed public input, divisions in comm over effects
site) often created much stress as final outcome
• Changes in attitudes and behav urgently needed avoid env catastrophe (consume massive
amounts energy)
• Psych barriers impede pro-env behavs pertaining to climate change- list depressingly
long, ranging denial to system justification to concerns about freeloaders (why should I
put in effort when others don’t)
Applied research in social psychology:
• Kurt Lewin, gen recog founder empirical social psych, made 3 key points:
o Social psych qs best tested w experimental method
o Studies can be used understand basic psych processes and to develop theories
about social influence
o Social psych theories and methods can be used address pressing social probs
• Many in field, beauty of social psych is that by very nature addresses both basic and
applied qs about human behav- ex: research on stereotyping and prejudice investigates
basic theoretical qs about ways people form impressions and applied qs how stereotyping
and prejudice might be reduced
• Basic research- concerned primarily w theoretical issues and applied research- concerned
w addressing specific real-world probs
• Solve dif social probs, have to understand underlying psych dynamics human nature and
social influence
• Increasingly social psychs conducting studies designed specifically address practical
probs but better equipped many other disciplines study applied probs
• Field social psych rich source theories about human behav that people can draw on devise
solutions social probs and social psychs know how perform rigorous experimental tests of
solutions to see if work
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