Can Psychology Help Save the World? A Model for Conservation Psychology
Susan Clayton,
Amara Brook,
Corresponding Author
Susan Clayton
The College of Wooster
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Susan Clayton, Department of Psychology, 930 College Mall, Wooster, OH 44691 [e-mail: [email protected]].Search for more papers by this author
Susan Clayton,
Amara Brook,
Corresponding Author
Susan Clayton
The College of Wooster
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Susan Clayton, Department of Psychology, 930 College Mall, Wooster, OH 44691 [e-mail: [email protected]].Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
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.
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SUSAN CLAYTON is a professor of social psychology at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. A Fellow of the APA and of SPSSI, she received her PhD from Yale University. Clayton has published widely on affirmative action, justice, and environmental issues. Recently, she co-edited (with Susan Opotow) Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature (2003, MIT Press).
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AMARA BROOK received her PhD in social psychology from the University of Michigan in 2005, and will be assistant professor of psychology at Santa Clara University starting in September 2005. Her research focuses on why people often behave in ways that undermine their own goals, such as the goal of protecting the environment, and how to help them behave more consistently with their goals.
