Social Psychology
in Action 2
Social Psychology and the
Environment
Chapter Outline
I. The Environment as a Source of
Stress
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• A major source of stress is the
environment in which we live. To
understand when the environment
will be stressful, we have to
understand how and why people
construe that environment as a
threat to their well-being.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Noise as a Source of Stress
Whether people will find loud noise
psychologically stressful depends on how
people interpret the noise and how much
control they feel they have over it.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Noise as a Source of Stress
According to Glass and Singer (1972), people
who believed they could control a noxious
noise did about as well on a task as people
who heard no noise at all.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Crowding as a Source of Stress
The growth in human population poses
potential dangers of malnutrition and creates
stress through the phenomenon of crowding.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Crowding as a Source of Stress
The presence of many others is not always
unpleasant, thus a distinction is made
between density and crowding.
Density is the number of people who occupy a
given space, while
Crowding is the subjective feeling of
unpleasantness due to the presence of other
people.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Crowding as a Source of Stress
One factor that turns density into crowding is
the amount of control people feel they have
over the density in their environment.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Crowding as a Source of Stress
A second factor that determines when density
becomes crowding are the attributions that
people make for the arousal that derives from
the mere presence of others.
The Environment as a Source of
Stress
• Crowding as a Source of Stress
Finally, crowding will be aversive if it leads to
sensory overload, the situation in which we
receive more stimulation from the
environment than we can pay attention to or
process at a given time.
Chapter Outline
II. Using Social Psychology to
Change Environmentally
Damaging Behaviors
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Resolving Social Dilemmas
A social dilemma is a situation in which the
beneficial action for an individual will, if
chosen by most people, have harmful effects
on everyone.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Resolving Social Dilemmas
Social dilemmas can result from pressure to
participate in efforts to conserve water,
conserve energy and reduce litter, among
other things.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Resolving Social Dilemmas
Social dilemmas may be resolved by allowing
people to communicate with one another, by
making it easier for people to monitor their
behaviors, by making people’s behavior as
public as possible, and by changing the way
in which people perceive themselves and their
social behavior.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Conserving Water
Research finds that making people feel
hypocritical can increase their water
conservation behaviors.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Conserving Energy
Aronson and colleagues (1988, 1990) found
that making energy loss vivid to homeowners
increased their energy conservation
behaviors. Also, making conservation
competitive can make people more careful
about their energy use.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Reducing Litter
Two important norms can influence whether
people litter. Injunctive norms are people’s
perceptions of what behaviors are approved
or disapproved of by others. Descriptive
norms are people’s perceptions of how other
people actually behave in a given situation,
regardless of whether the behavior is
approved or disapproved of by others.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Reducing Litter
Cialdini and colleagues (1990) found that
seeing one conspicuous piece of litter in an
otherwise clean environment can
communicate the descriptive norm against
littering. Although both descriptive and
injunctive norms can reduce littering,
injunctive norms are more effective.
Using Social Psychology to Change
Behaviors
• Getting People to Recycle
Although changing people’s attitudes can be
effective at increasing recycling, removing the
barriers to recycling may be more effective.
Increasing the number of recycling bins in a
community, instituting curbside recycling, and
allowing residents to mix materials have all
been found to increase people’s recycling
behaviors.
Study Questions
When is an environment
stressful? What are relatively
recent environmental stressors
that our civilization has to face?
Study Questions
When is noise psychologically
stressful? What conditions are
necessary to reduce the ill
effects of loud noise? What are
detrimental effects of
uncontrollable noise?
Study Questions
What are findings from studies of
crowding in animals and
humans? What psychological
effects do crowded dorms have
on students? Why is crowding
aversive?
Study Questions
How are the effects of noise and
crowding similar?
Study Questions
What is sensory overload and
what are its consequences?
Study Questions
What is a social dilemma, why do
they occur, and why are they
difficult to resolve? According
to research, how can we resolve
social dilemmas?
Study Questions
What is the role of cognitive
dissonance and hypocrisy in
increasing environmentally
sound behaviors? Why is the
hypocrisy technique successful
at increasing water
conservation?
Study Questions
What strategies have been
successful at increasing energy
conservation behaviors? What
types of information do we need
to give people so that they will
conserve?
Study Questions
How can we get people to stop
littering? What roles do
injunctive and descriptive norms
play in decreasing littering? Why
are injunctive norms more
effective than descriptive
norms?
Study Questions
What strategies have been
successful for increasing
recycling behaviors?