Key Topics

1. Psychology’s Contributions to Promoting a Sustainable Environment: Extending our Reach to a Grand Challenge of Society Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D., ABPPYale UniversityAPA Presidential Address August 2008

2. Key Topics • Characteristics of Psychology as a Discipline • Our Contributions to Society • Extending our Reach to Promote Behaviors that Sustain the Environment • How we Might Begin to Exert Impact and Become More Involved • Brilliant Ideas that have Never Been Presented Before

3. Characteristics of Psychology • Diversity of our Subject Matter • Relation to other Areas of Inquiry • Core of our Field • Psychology as Portrayed in Everyday Life • Failure to Recognize our Science

4. Concerns of Psychology in the Media Joseph Jastrow, 9th APA President (1900): Warned of “newspaper science” and noted how the layman cannot be expected to distinguish this from our research. Albert Poffenberger, 44th APA President (1935): Lamented the fact that occasionally, “we permit psychology to be sold to the public by amateurs and charlatans.” Ronald Fox, 103rd APA President (1994): Noted that we “elevate the trivial, … glibly generalize from unique to bizarre particulars to broadly applicable principles of conduct, or . . . spew forth a kind of nonsensical psychobabble that confuses issues and encourages forms of thinking or attribution that may well be worse than simple nonsense. “

5. Characteristics of Psychology • Diversity of our Subject Matter • Relation to other Areas of Inquiry • Core of our Field • Psychology as Portrayed in Everyday Life • Failure to Recognize our Science

6. American Competitive Initiative Designed to ensure that America retains economic and leadership strength in the world. “Research pays off for our economy”(Domestic Policy Council, 2006, p. 4) Emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education Where is Psychology? Not here.

7. Characteristics of Psychology Summary Points • The topics or subject matter of psychology are quite diverse. • This makes it difficult to convey to the public who we are and what we do absence of clear core). • There is a special opportunity here – our topic diversity allows us to bring multiple sources of influence to bear on a problem. • We could make a clearer footprint by applying our work to a significant social problem.

8. Psychology’s Contributions to Society Calls for Contributions George Trumbull Ladd, 2nd APA President (1893) John Dewey, 8th APA President (1899) George Miller, 78th APA President (1969) We have Contributed Already 1. Conceptual Models of Human Behavior Scientific Conceptualization to Enrich Public Life, George Miller, 78th APA President (1969) Hopeful Psychology, Leona Tyler 82nd APA President (1973) Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman, 107th APA President (1998) 2. Assessment Lewis Terman, 32nd APA President (1923) Albert Poffenberger, 44th APA President (1935) Joseph McVicker Hunt, 61st APA President (1952) Joseph Matarazzo, 98th APA President (1989) 3. Multiple Areas of Everyday Life Philip Zimbardo, 111th APA President (2002)

9. Characteristics of “Wicked” Problems • There is no single, definitive, or simple formulation of the problem; • The problem is not likely to be the result of an event (e.g., tsunami, hurricane) but rather a set of intersecting trends that co-occur and co-influence each other; • There problem has embedded in it other problems—including other wicked problems; • There is no one solution, no single one shot effort that will eliminate the problem; • The problem is never likely to be solved; • Multiple stakeholders are likely to be involved and this leads to multiple formulations of what “really” is the problem and the legitimate solutions; • Values, culture, politics, and economics are likely to be involved in the problem and possible strategies to address the problem; • Information as a basis for actionwill be incomplete because of the uniqueness of the problem and the complexities of its interrelations with other problems; and • Each problem is likely to be unique and therefore does not easily lend itself to previously tried strategies. (Sources: Conklin, 2006; Horn & Weber, 2007; Rittel & Webber, 1973; www.strategykinetics.com)

10. Climate Change and Related Challenges • Population increases • Reduction of glaciers • Deforestation • Desertification (loss of arable land for crops) • Increase in the acidity of our oceans • Contamination of water and air (toxins, waste) • Depletion of the water supply • Threats to a secure food supply (e.g., grains) • Reduced fisheries • Decreases in species (animal and plant) • Loss of critical habitats (e.g., coral reefs, rain forests) • Spread of vector-born diseases (e.g., illnesses carried by mosquitoes, sand-flies, ticks, and rodents) as species move into new regions • Loss of wetlands • And more (e.g., plant and animal illness and disease)

11. Proverb to Guide Us “Give a man [person] a fish and he [she] will eat for a day; Teach him [her] how to fish and he [she] will eat for a lifetime.” (attributed to Lao Tsu, ~500BC in China; important figure in Taoism) Was more applicable: 1. When bodies of water (lakes, rivers, and streams) were in greater supply, 2. When fish were more plentiful, 3. When metals (e.g., mercury, lead) did not accumulate in many species of fish at toxic levels, and 4. Before major bodies of water were contaminated.

12. Areas of Psychology: Examples • Environmental Psychology: effects of environments on human behavior and human behavior on environments; • Ecopsychology: how behavior is affected by contexts or settings such as school, work, restaurants; • Conservation Psychology: how psychology can contribute to behaviors that protect the environment; • Psychology of Social Justice: how psychology can promote human dignity, rights, peace and security and encompasses broad range of topics including crime, education, civil rights, war and many others including globalization); and • Applied Psychology: how behavioral science can be applied to many issues and problems of society (e.g., health, disease, discrimination); scores sub-areas in developmental, social, and others.

13. What We Can Do 1. Promote Concrete Behaviors to Support a Sustainable Environment 2. Broader Scope of What we can Offer (examples) ● Education, Knowledge, and Information ● Message Framing and Priming ● Feedback and Knowledge of Results ● Decision Making ● Use of the Media ● Incentives and Disincentives ● Social Marketing ● Integrating Multiple Influences (e.g., Value-Belief-Norm Theory) ● Religion and Ethics

14. Why Now? A. Salient Influences 1. Urgency 2. Better Documentation of the Problems 3. Increased Recognition of the Problems by the Public 4. Global Scale of the Problems 5. Anthropocene Era: Human Dominance of the World B. Special Opportunities for Action 1. Increased Collaboration in Science 2. Public More involved in Science Now than Ever Before 3. New Opportunities with Technology to Reach Out to People 4. Psychology has made Advances in Theory and Research on Sustainability

15. Where to Begin? 1. Formally Delineate the Area and Focus as Critical to Psychology 2. Take Action in our Own Organization ● Our Annual Conventions and Other Meetings can be “Green” ● Reconsider and Reduce our Travel ● Develop Educational Materials ● Advocacy for Research, Training, and Applications

16. Stone Soup Model Three French soldiers returning from the war are very tired and hungry. When they come to a village they hope to find food and a nice bed to sleep in, but the villagers were afraid and would not give them food or a place to sleep. The soldiers said they would make a soup of stones. The villagers did not believe they could do this so they stood by and watched. . . (Marcia Brown, 1947)

17. Contact Information Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D., ABPP Department of Psychology Yale University New Haven, CT 06520-8205 Email: alan.kazdin@yale.edu