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Can Psychology Help Save the World? A Model for Conservation Psychology
Author(s) -
Clayton Susan,
Brook Amara
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2005.00057.x
Subject(s) - conservation psychology , situational ethics , environmental psychology , psychology , field (mathematics) , psychological research , context (archaeology) , applied psychology , social psychology , ecology , biodiversity , mathematics , pure mathematics , biology , paleontology
Conservation psychology is defined as psychological research oriented toward understanding why people help or hurt the natural environment and promoting environmentally sustainable practices ( Saunders, 2003 ). Despite a growing body of research, the field is largely unfamiliar to many psychologists and to those working in the environmental field. Here we make a case for the importance of conservation psychology and describe a model for the social psychology of conservation behavior that focuses on situational context, existing schemas, and personal motives. We hope this model will be useful for policymakers and will prompt new psychological research on the topic of conservation.