Ch 23

• Environmental stress is an undesirable transaction between the person and the environment
• The demands made by environmental factors on us constitute the sources of environmental stress
• Environmental stress can be managed
• Environmental stress is any physical or emotional state that causes bodily or mental tension
• Human-environment relationship includes the physical world and socio-cultural surrounding in which we live and interact with others
• Environmental psychology deals with the diverse effects of environment on behavior
• Three different views on the human-environment relationship:

  • Humans Subjugated to Nature
  • Humans Control over Nature
  • Symbiotic Relationship between Human and Nature
• Pollution is an undesirable change in the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of air, land, and water that may harmfully affect life
• Pollution is largely a result of human activities
• Pollution is caused by various pollutants which are substances foreign to the medium such as air or water in which they are present
• Types of pollution:

  • Air Pollution
  • Water Pollution
  • Noise Pollution
  • Crowding
  • Green House Effect
• Air Pollution:

  • Imbalance in the quality of air causing adverse effects on living organisms
  • Major pollutants include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, and suspended particulates
  • Causes respiratory problems, cardiovascular problems, hypertension, asthma, eye-related and neurological problems
• Water Pollution:

  • Addition of excess undesirable substances to water that makes it harmful to human, animal, and aquatic life
  • Causes diseases like diarrhoea, intestinal worms, and hepatitis
  • Factors contributing to water pollution include domestic and human waste water, industrial waste water, and agricultural run-off
• Noise Pollution:

  • Intensity, loudness, timbre, or pitch of sound causing physical discomfort or unwanted situations
  • Ill effects include health hazards, problems in communication, accidents, and disruption of harmony in interpersonal relations
• Crowding:

  • Common experiences in various settings like city buses, railway reservation counters, markets, village fairs
  • Can lead to discomfort and stress in individuals
• Crowding can be experienced in various settings like city buses, railway reservation counters, markets, village fairs, marriage parties, social functions, schools, and parties
• Crowding can lead to both negative emotions like anger and distress, as well as positive experiences
• Psychologists differentiate between density (number of persons per square kilometer) and crowding
• Behaviour and experience of crowding depend on the relationship with people involved, duration of the experience, physical context, and the meaning assigned to it
• Crime is linked to crowding, with crimes like pick-pocketing and snatching more likely to occur in crowded settings such as busy rush hours and peak hours in market places
• Overcrowding in corrective institutions (prisons) and psychiatric institutions can lead to riots, clashes among inmates, stress among prison officers, and assaults on other patients or staff
• Crowding leads to increased physiological arousal, stress, high blood pressure, faster heart rate, increased levels of physical illness, anger, aggression, apathy, social withdrawal, and learned helplessness
• Greenhouse effect is caused by human activities like burning fossil fuels, deforestation, burning coal, and using chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), leading to global warming
• Greenhouse effect traps the sun's heat in the atmosphere, causing the earth to warm up
• If the trend continues, it is estimated that the earth's surface air temperature could increase by about 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100, leading to climate change, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and disruption of agriculture worldwide
• To combat global warming, human behavior needs to change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, planting more trees, and banning the use of CFC for refrigeration
• Sustainable development is defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
• Sustainable development involves preserving environmental and exhaustible resources to ensure the well-being of future generations