When it comes to the science of climate change, psychology has long taken a back seat to the geophysical sciences. Now, more organizations and policymakers are recognizing the vital role that psychology can play in finding solutions to mitigate global warming—and helping people adapt to the inevitable changes to come.
"Psychology is about contributing to human well-being—climate change is a significant present and emerging threat to that well-being," says Patricia Winter, PhD, a research social scientist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station, in Albany, California. "There’s a place here for every subspecialty within psychology, if we work together to find it."
Traditionally, much of psychologists’ work on climate change has been in areas of behavior change, environmental decision-making and how to effectively communicate pro-environmental messages: How do you get people to reduce energy use? What incentives encourage people to buy electric cars?
Such research continues to be essential, says Robert Gifford, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, who studies the interface of environmental, social and personality psychology.
"Climate change is a human problem. It’s the result of 7.6 billion people making decisions every single day. That right there makes it a psychological problem," he says. And psychology has the tools to address that problem, he adds. "We’re the experts on individual behavior, we know about messaging and how to create interventions."
Those interventions can promote sustainable behaviors among individuals, as well as societies, organizations and governments. Psychologists are behind such efforts as rewarding employees’ sustainable behaviors, working with cities to reduce their carbon footprint and conducting research to understand why and when people engage in green behaviors. (Read more about these approaches in the May Monitor article "Building a Sustainable Futureopens in new window.")
Helping people adapt
Yet even if we could halt greenhouse gas emissions tomorrow, the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere will fuel warming for decades to come. We have no choice but to deal with the fallout.
"We certainly need to keep doing the work we’ve been doing, trying to change behavior," says Susan Clayton, PhD, a professor of psychology and environmental studies at the College of Wooster in Ohio. "[But] we also need to start thinking as a professional community about adaptation. The idea of psychological impacts is really beginning to gain interest and attention."
Researchers also predict that climate-related effects such as more frequent natural disasters, increased migration as well as loss of a sense of place will result in mental health impacts including feelings of loss and hopelessness, more mental health emergencies, and higher rates of aggression and violence, according to a 2017 report by APA and ecoAmerica titled Mental Health and Our Changing Climateopens in new window.
Such findings highlight a reality that many working in the climate change space have already realized: Climate change isn’t just a problem for environmental psychologists; it’s a matter that clinical psychologists, too, cannot ignore.
Moving forward
For 30 years, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been the world’s authority on the science of climate change. In the past, their reports have focused primarily on the geophysical aspects of global warming. For the next installment of its assessment report, due out in 2021, the IPCC has made an effort to include psychologists in the outlining and writing process.
"The IPCC, for the first time in its history, has acknowledged the relevance and importance of psychological theory to helping build a more resilient future," says psychologist John Fraser, PhD, president and CEO of the social science think tank NewKnowledge and president of APA Div. 34 (Society for Environmental, Population and Conservation Psychology). "That is a radical departure from what we witnessed in the past."
Beyond the IPCC, climate change experts and activists in other disciplines are finally appreciating what psychology has to offer, says Clayton. "I’m seeing a lot of interdisciplinary organizations and projects where people are asking psychologists to be part of the team. There has definitely been an increase in the recognition by nonpsychologists that psychology has an important role to play in addressing climate change."
And the climate problem needs all the help it can get, from experts across disciplines, says Linda Silka, PhD, a social and community psychologist and a senior fellow at the University of Maine’s Sen. George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions.
"This is a challenge that is so complex, just having more data isn’t going to lead directly to solutions that everyone will agree on," she says, adding that psychologists can help bridge cross-disciplinary gaps to work toward solutions. For instance, she’s working on a National Science Foundation–funded project with engineering faculty and climate scientists at the University of New Hampshire. The project aims to use climate models to inform infrastructure development—understanding how higher temperatures will affect asphalt, for instance, or how to build bridges that will withstand rising seas. But the engineers and climate scientists weren’t used to speaking the same professional language, so they called on social scientists including Silka to help them work together more effectively.
"More people are seeing that they need someone who can help them find common ground—and that’s one of the tools psychologists have in their toolkit," Silka says.
