Ecopsychology

Last updated

Ecopsychology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field that focuses on the synthesis of ecology and psychology and the promotion of sustainability. [1] [2] [3] It is distinguished from conventional psychology as it focuses on studying the emotional bond between humans and the Earth. [2] [4] Instead of examining personal pain solely in the context of individual or family pathology, it is analyzed in its wider connection to the more than human world. [5] A central premise is that while the mind is shaped by the modern world, its underlying structure was created in a natural non-human environment. [6] Ecopsychology seeks to expand and remedy the emotional connection between humans and nature, treating people psychologically by bringing them spiritually closer to nature. [3]

Contents

History

Origins of ecopsychology

Sigmund Freud

In his 1929 book Civilization and Its Discontents ("Das Unbehagen in der Kultur"), Sigmund Freud discussed the basic tensions between civilization and the individual. [7] He recognized the interconnection between the internal world of the mind and the external world of the environment, stating: [7] [ page needed ]

Our present ego-feeling is, therefore, only a shrunken residue of a much more inclusive—indeed, an all-embracing—feeling which corresponded to a more intimate bond between the ego and the world about it.

Robert Greenway

Influenced by the philosophies of noted ecologists Walles T. Edmondson and Loren Eiseley, Robert Greenway began researching and developing a concept that he described as "a marriage" between psychology and ecology in the early 1960s. [8] [9] He theorized that "the mind is nature, and nature, the mind," and called its study psychoecology.[ citation needed ] Greenway published his first essay on the topic at Brandeis University in 1963. [8] [10]

In 1969, he began teaching the subject at Sonoma State University. [10] One of Greenway's students founded a psychoecology study group at University of California, Berkeley, which was joined by Theodore Roszak in the 1990s. [8] [10]

In the 1995 book Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, Greenway wrote: [8] [ page needed ]

Ecopsychology is a search for language to describe the human-nature relationship. It is a tool for better understanding the relationship, for diagnosing what is wrong with that relationship, and for suggesting paths to healing.

Theodore Roszak

Theodore Roszak is credited with coining the term "ecopsychology" in his 1992 book The Voice of the Earth, although a group of psychologists and environmentalists, including Mary Gomes and Allen Kanner, were independently using the term at the same time. Roszak, Gomes and Kanner later expanded the idea in the 1995 anthology Ecopsychology. Two other books were especially formative, Paul Shepard's 1982 volume, Nature and Madness, which explored the effect that our diminishing engagement with nature had upon psychological development, and David Abram's 1996 The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. The latter was one of the first books to bring phenomenology fully to bear on ecological issues, looking closely at the cosmo-vision (or the traditional ecological knowledge systems) of diverse indigenous, oral cultures, and analyzing the curious effect that the advent of formal writing systems, like the phonetic alphabet, has had upon the human experience of the more-than-human natural world. [11] [12] Roszak mentions the biophilia hypothesis of biologist E.O. Wilson; that humans have an instinct to emotionally connect with nature. [4] [13]

Beliefs

Roszak states that an individual's connection to nature can improve their interpersonal relationships and emotional wellbeing.[ citation needed ] An integral part of this practice is treating patients outdoors. [4] According to ecopsychology, humans are meant to take walks in parks.[ citation needed ] It considers the psyche of non-humans to be relevant.[ clarification needed ] It examines why people continue environmentally damaging behaviour, and motivates them to adopt sustainability. [4] [7] [8] [10]

Fundamental principles

According to Roszak, some of the principles of ecopsychology are: [14] [ page needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both conscious and unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and motives. Psychology is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Biological psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.

Collective unconscious refers to the unconscious mind and shared mental concepts. It is generally associated with idealism and was coined by Carl Jung. According to Jung, the human collective unconscious is populated by instincts, as well as by archetypes: ancient primal symbols such as The Great Mother, the Wise Old Man, the Shadow, the Tower, Water, and the Tree of Life. Jung considered the collective unconscious to underpin and surround the unconscious mind, distinguishing it from the personal unconscious of Freudian psychoanalysis. He believed that the concept of the collective unconscious helps to explain why similar themes occur in mythologies around the world. He argued that the collective unconscious had a profound influence on the lives of individuals, who lived out its symbols and clothed them in meaning through their experiences. The psychotherapeutic practice of analytical psychology revolves around examining the patient's relationship to the collective unconscious.

The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. Edward O. Wilson introduced and popularized the hypothesis in his book, Biophilia (1984). He defines biophilia as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life".

In analytical psychology, the shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality that does not correspond with the ego ideal, leading the ego to resist and project the shadow, leading to a conflict with it. In short, the shadow is the self's emotional blind spot - the part the ego does not want to acknowledge - projected as archetypes—or, in a metaphorical sense-image complexes, personified within the collective unconscious; e.g., trickster.

<i>Anima mundi</i> Concept in metaphysics

The anima mundi or world soul is, according to several systems of thought, an intrinsic connection between all living beings, which relates to the world in much the same way as the soul is connected to the human body.

Environmental psychology is a branch of psychology that explores the relationship between humans and the external world. It examines the way in which the natural environment and our built environments shape us as individuals. Environmental psychology emphasizes how humans change the environment and how the environment changes humans' experiences and behaviors. The field defines the term environment broadly, encompassing natural environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational environments. According to an article on APA Psychnet, environmental psychology is when a person thinks of a plan, travels to a certain place, and follows through with the plan throughout their behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Roszak (scholar)</span> American social historian, critic and writer

Theodore Roszak was an American academic and novelist who concluded his academic career as Professor Emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay. He is best known for his 1969 text The Making of a Counter Culture.

Depth psychology refers to the practice and research of the science of the unconscious, covering both psychoanalysis and psychology. It is also defined as the psychological theory that explores the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious, as well as the patterns and dynamics of motivation and the mind. The theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, and Alfred Adler are all considered its foundations.

Ego psychology is a school of psychoanalysis rooted in Sigmund Freud's structural id-ego-superego model of the mind.

Ecolinguistics, or ecological linguistics, emerged in the 1990s as a new paradigm of linguistic research, widening sociolinguistics to take into account not only the social context in which language is embedded, but also the wider ecological context, including other species and the physical environment.

Ecospirituality connects the science of ecology with spirituality. It brings together religion and environmental activism. Ecospirituality has been defined as "a manifestation of the spiritual connection between human beings and the environment." The new millennium and the modern ecological crisis has created a need for environmentally based religion and spirituality. Ecospirituality is understood by some practitioners and scholars as one result of people wanting to free themselves from a consumeristic and materialistic society. Ecospirituality has been critiqued for being an umbrella term for concepts such as deep ecology, ecofeminism, and nature religion.

The Jungian interpretation of religion, pioneered by Carl Jung and advanced by his followers, is an attempt to interpret religion in the light of Jungian psychology. Unlike Sigmund Freud and his followers, Jungians tend to treat religious beliefs and behaviors in a positive light, while offering psychological referents to traditional religious terms such as "soul", "evil", "transcendence", "the sacred", and "God". Because beliefs do not have to be facts in order for people to hold them, the Jungian interpretation of religion has been, and continues to be, of interest to psychologists and theists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildness</span> Quality of being wild or untamed

Wildness, in its literal sense, is the quality of being wild or untamed. Beyond this, it has been defined as a quality produced in nature and that which is not domesticated. More recently, it has been defined as "a quality of interactive processing between organism and nature where the realities of base natures are met, allowing the construction of durable systems" and "the autonomous ecological influences of nonhuman organisms."

In environmental philosophy, ecological self is central to the school of Experiential Deep Ecology, which, based on the work of Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss, argues that through the process of self-actualisation, one transcends the notions of the individuated "egoic" self and arrives at a position of an ecological self. So long as one is working within the narrower concept of self, Næss argues, environmentally responsible behaviour is a form of altruism, a "doing good for the other", which historically has been a precarious ethical basis, usually involved in exhorting others to "be good". Næss argues that in his Ecosophy, the enlargement of the ego-self to the eco-self results in environmentally responsible behaviour as a form of self-interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chellis Glendinning</span> American writer (born 1947)

Chellis Glendinning is an author and activist. She has been called a pioneer in the concept of ecopsychology—the belief that promoting environmentalism is healthy. She is a social-change activist with an emphasis on feminism, bioregionalism, and indigenous rights. She promotes human cultures which are land-based and confined to bioregions, and is a critic of the use of technology.

Deep ecology is an environmental philosophy that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, and the restructuring of modern human societies in accordance with such ideas.

Sierra Club Books was the publishing division, for both adults and children, of the Sierra Club, founded in 1960 by then club President David Brower. They were a United States publishing company located in San Francisco, California with a concentration on biological conservation. In 2014 the adult division of the organization was sold to Counterpoint LLC and the children's books division to Gibbs Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature connectedness</span>

Nature connectedness is the extent to which individuals include nature as part of their identity. It includes an understanding of nature and everything it is made up of, even the parts that are not pleasing. Characteristics of nature connectedness are similar to those of a personality trait: nature connectedness is stable over time and across various situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freud's psychoanalytic theories</span> Look to unconscious drives to explain human behavior

Sigmund Freud is considered to be the founder of the psychodynamic approach to psychology, which looks to unconscious drives to explain human behavior. Freud believed that the mind is responsible for both conscious and unconscious decisions that it makes on the basis of psychological drives. The id, ego, and super-ego are three aspects of the mind Freud believed to comprise a person's personality. Freud believed people are "simply actors in the drama of [their] own minds, pushed by desire, pulled by coincidence. Underneath the surface, our personalities represent the power struggle going on deep within us".

Climate psychology is a field that aims to further our understanding of the psychological processes that occur in response to climate change and its resultant effects. It also seeks to promote creative ways to engage with the public about climate change; contribute to change at the personal, community, cultural, and political levels; support activists, scientists and policy makers to bring about effective change; to nurture psychological resilience to the destructive impacts of climate change happening now and in the future.

References

  1. ↑ Fisher, Andy (2012). Radical ecopsychology: Psychology in the service of life. New York: Albany State University of New York Press. p. 3. ISBN   978-0791453049.
  2. 1 2 Roszak, Theodore (1992). Voice of the earth - an exploration of ecopsychology. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press. ISBN   1890482803.
  3. 1 2 Anderson, G. "About eco-psychology".
  4. 1 2 3 4 Roszack, Theodore (1 January 1996). "The nature of sanity". Psychology Today. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Conn, Sarah A. (August 16, 2010). "Living in the earth: Ecopsychology, health and psychotherapy". The Humanistic Psychologist. 26 (1–3): 179–198. doi:10.1080/08873267.1998.9976972 . Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  6. ↑ Roszak, Theodore (1995). "A new therapy [Letter to the editor]". BioScience. 45 (1): 3. doi:10.2307/1312526. JSTOR   1312526.
  7. 1 2 3 Freud, Sigmund (1929). "Civilization And Its Discontents" (PDF). Narcissistic Abuse Rehab. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-12. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Greenway, Robert (1995). "The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology" (PDF). Narcissistic Abuse Rehab. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-12. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  9. ↑ Liebert, Mary Ann (March 2009). "Robert Greenway: The Ecopsychology Interview". Ecopsychology. 1: 47–52. doi:10.1089/eco.2009.0008 . Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Attfield, Nicci (February 7, 2021). "What is Ecopsychology?". Mindsplain. Archived from the original on 2021-02-07. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  11. ↑ Abram, David. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. Pantheon, New York, 1996.
  12. ↑ Vakoch, Douglas; Castrillón, Fernando, eds. (2014). Ecopsychology, Phenomenology, and the Environment: The Experience of Nature. New York: Springer-Verlag. ISBN   9781461496182.
  13. ↑ Wilson, E. O. (1995). The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press.
  14. ↑ Roszak, Theodore; Gomes, Mary E., eds. (1995). Ecopsychology: Restoring the earth, healing the mind. USA: Counterpoint. ISBN   0871564068.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.