Critical psychologies and climate change.

Area of Science:

• Critical psychology
• Climate change psychology
• Environmental psychology

Background:

• Mainstream psychology often frames climate change as an individual behavior problem.
• This individualistic approach overlooks crucial factors like social context, power dynamics, and discourse.
• Existing frameworks may obscure the complex influences on human responses to climate change.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review critical psychology's contributions to understanding human responses to climate change.
• To contrast critical psychology with mainstream psychological perspectives on climate change.
• To explore how critical psychology addresses the psychological and emotional impacts of climate change, including injustice and disempowerment.

Main Methods:

• Review of recent contributions in critical psychology, critical social psychology, critical community psychology, and liberation psychology.
• Analysis of the framing of climate change within mainstream versus critical psychological paradigms.
• Examination of factors influencing inaction or action on climate change, including social context, discourse, power, and affect.

Main Results:

• Critical psychology critiques the overemphasis on individual behavior change and 'barriers' in mainstream approaches.
• It highlights the reductive nature of individualistic frameworks, which downplay social, discursive, and power-related influences.
• Critical psychology acknowledges the uneven psychological and emotional impacts of climate change, leading to injustice and disempowerment.

Conclusions:

• Critical psychology offers a more holistic understanding of climate change responses by considering social context, power, and discourse.
• It advocates for research and interventions focused on collective understanding, activism, empowerment, and resistance.
• These elements are deemed essential for fostering a genuine shift towards sustainable societies.