Psychology Chapter 7 - PDF

## Chapter VII: Psychology and Life ### Introduction The meaning of Psychology has undergone tremendous change since fifty years. Modern life has paved way for changes in the life style. Application of Psychology in different areas of life has become almost the need of time. Environmental Psycholo...

## Chapter VII: Psychology and Life ### Introduction The meaning of Psychology has undergone tremendous change since fifty years. Modern life has paved way for changes in the life style. Application of Psychology in different areas of life has become almost the need of time. Environmental Psychology is an interdisciplinary field focused on the interplay between human and their surroundings. The field defines the term Environment broadly encompassing natural environment. Ecology is a direct study of the relationship between an environment and how it affects the inhabitants. Here we understand the influence of environment on behavior and society. We will reflect on a set of social concerns which link with psychological aspects. These issues can be understood and resolved at the level of community rather than the individual. The effects of human behavior on environment causes certain stress producing conditions like noise, pollution, crowding. At the same time environmental effects can be reduced by environmental friendly behavior and state of preparedness. We will study the causes and consequences of social problems such as aggression and violence, health, poverty and discrimination which have far reaching effects in developing human potential, social harmony and mental health. Some ways of reducing poverty are described, as well as psychological aspects of health and impact of television viewing on violence. This chapter shows how psychological understanding can be practically applied to aspects of pro-environmental behavior, elimination of violence and discrimination and promotion of positive health attitudes. ### Human - Environment Relationship When we try to answer certain questions like - Can a tree be your friend? When it gets hot or when it is crowded do people become more aggressive? If Rivers are holy why do people make them dirty? How to prevent natural disasters such as earthquake, tsunami or manmade disasters as gas leakage? Compare two children growing in different environments, one filled with colorful toys, pictures and books and other in environments with bare necessities, Will the two children develop the same cognitive skill? We might get different answers to these questions. The relationship between human behaviour and environment plays a special role in our lives. These days there is growing awareness of problems such as noise, air, water and soil pollution, unsatisfactory ways of garbage disposal which have damaging effects on physical health. Depletion of ozone layer and global warming is of great concern in the present scenario. Environmental Psychology deals with various psychological issues pertaining to human environment interaction. The word environment refers to social, physical, work and cultural aspects. Ecology is study of relationships between environment and living beings. A distinction can be made between natural environment and built environment. A natural environment is a part not touched by human hand, where as anything created by man is built environment such as cities, houses, office, school, bridges, malls, roads, tanks, dams, artificially created parks and ponds where change has been made by man on environment given by nature for e.g. forests, rivers and mountains The built environment usually involve concept of environmental design. The idea design contains psychological features as.... 1. The creativity of work of architects, town planners and civil engineers. 2. The sense of human control on natural environment as shown in building dams to regulate natural flow. 3. The influence of designed environment on social interaction reflected in distance between house in a colony, placement of room, windows arrangement of work desk, the seats in formal (office) and informal (marriage) gatherings. ### Different views of Human Environment Relationship 1. The minimalistic perspective assumes that physical environment has minimal effect on health and wellbeing. The physical environment and human beings exists as parallel components. 2. The instrumental perspective suggests that the physical environment exists mainly for human comfort and well being. 3. The spiritual perspective views environment as something to be respected and valued rather than exploited by human being. They will exist as long as environment is kept healthy and natural. The traditional Indian views in the spiritual perspective, which is depictured in some examples, viz. the custom of Bishnois community of Rajasthan and Chipko movement in Uttarakhand (See Box) **The Bishnois and the Chipko Movement**: The Bishnois, a small community in Rajasthan, value their trees and wildlife as much as their lives. Following one of the 29 rules given by their guru, the Bishnois would do anything to prevent the destruction of trees by human beings, including hugging the trees if they are threatened in any way; the destroyer cannot cut the trees without cutting these human bodies. Similarly, the forest cover in the Himalayan Uttarakhand region has been protected through the Chipko movement ('chipko' literally means 'sticking to' or hugging trees). The aim of this movement is to conserve forests, prevent landslides and soil erosion in the region, and to support the livelihood of the inhabitants. In the 1960s, when the forest department of the government was not quite successful in curbing the indiscriminate felling of trees in large numbers, people of the economically backward Uttarakhand region expressed their concern through the Chipko movement, which became stronger because of devastating floods in 1970. The Chipko movement's memorandum of demands included six principles: (a) only specific trees and vegetation suitable for a particular geographical region should be grown. (b) forests in landslide and soil erosion zones need to be identified and renewed, (c) those who have been customarily living near the forests and depending on them for survival should be given the right to do so, (d) the contract system for commercial timber exploitation should be abolished, (e) trees used by the villagers must be planted near the villages, and (f) village cottage industries based on minor forest products should be set up to provide jobs to locals for checking migration from villages. This movement has been recognized by environmentalists in India and abroad as well as by the government. ### Environmental Effects on Human Behaviour The human environment relationship is inter-dependent for survival. When we focus on the effects of natural environment on behavior e.g. change of clothing in response to climate change to severe psychological effects as depression after a natural disaster. Some of the effects pointed out by psychologists are described below. 1. **Environmental influence on perception**: Some aspects of the environment influence human perception for e.g.: tribal societies of Africa live in circular houses without angular walls. They show less error in geometric illusion (Muller-Lyer illusion) than people in cities who live in houses with angular walls. 2. **Environmental influence on emotions**: When we watch nature in any form like the flowing river, flowers or tranquil mountain top, forests, gardens they bring joy and a relaxed feeling. Whereas any natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms, drought, landslides, floods etc, and people experience deep depression, sense of helplessness. These experiences can change people lives forever and can last for a long time after the actual event this is a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 3. **Ecological influence on occupation, life style and attitudes**: The natural environment of a particular geographical region like plains, forests, mountains, deserts determines their occupation as agricultural, hunting and gathering, or industries. The occupation in turn determines the lifestyle and attitudes of these people of that region. It is observed that agriculture society depends on collective effort of the people who develop attitudes of co-cooperativeness, group interest than individual wishes. They are also dependent on natural events like monsoon and resource like water. On the other hand highly industrialized societies feel less close to and less dependent on nature. They value independent thinking, attitudes of competitiveness. ### Human influence on the Environment Environment is affected by human influence when he tries to satisfy his physical needs, e.g.: the effect of built environments (houses, industries) which leads to cutting down of trees (deforestation) which disrupts the carbon cycle and water cycle eventually affecting pattern of rainfall in a region, an increase of soil erosion and desertification. An industry that discharge effluents and pump untreated sewage into rivers causes dangerous physical and psychological consequences of different kinds of pollution. Some of the human actions harming environment ultimately harming human beings are usage of pesticides, using appliances such as refrigerators and air conditioner that generate chemical substance (e.g. CFCs or (Chlorofluorocarbon) that pollute air in the long run which can lead to disease like Cancer. Smoking pollutes the air some environmental toxins like lead from automobile exhausts in high traffic areas, lead based paint and plumbing can effect learning ability and cause convulsions, lack of co-ordination, visual disturbances and behavioural disorders. Prolonged exposure of carbon monoxide from industries using combustion process is linked to reduced attention span, memory deficiency, impaired thinking, vision and hearing. Using mobile phones cause radiation which has an effect on hearing, and neural disturbances in the brain. The radioactive waves are damaging the ecology resulting in extinction of birds and cause of various forms of cancer. What is the psychological message in all these examples? The message is although the effects mentioned are physical in nature human beings have brought about these effects in order to exhibit his control and power over nature. It is very sad that human beings are using technology to change natural environment in order to improve quality of life, but in reality they are actually worsening the quality of life. ### Noise, Pollution, Crowding and Natural disasters Noise, Pollution, Crowding and Natural disasters are some examples of environmental stressor, which are stimuli or conditions in the environment causing unpleasant psychological states like tension and anxiety. Some of the damaging environmental effects are described below... #### Noise Any sound that is annoying or irritating with unpleasant feeling is said to be noise. Noise which is loud and experienced for long period of time may cause hearing loss, irritation and unpleasant mood; it also has negative effect on mental activity as it reduces concentration, work productivity and intellectual functioning. Three characteristics of noise which affects task performance are intensity, predictability & controllability. Systematic research on the effects of noise on human shows the following. - Noise whether loud or soft does not affect the overall performance when the task is simple e.g.: mental task like addition of numbers in such situations people adapt to it or get used to noise. - If the task performed is very interesting, the presence of noise does not affect the performance as the nature of task helps the individual to pay full attention. - When the noise comes at intervals and in an unpredictable way it is more disturbing than continuous noise. - If the noise is intense, unpredictable and uncontrolled and the task performed is difficult then it reduces the level of performance. - When switching off or tolerating the noise are within the control of the person the number of errors decreases. - In terms of emotional effect if the noise is above a certain level it causes annoyance, if the exposure is continuous for longer period of time then it can have harmful effect on mental health. From theses observation we can conclude that stressful effect of noise are determined not only by its high or low intensity, but also on the extent people adapt to it, and the nature of the task performed, whether it is predictable and controllable. #### Pollution Environmental pollution is in the form of air, water or soil pollution. Waste or garbage from household and industries are the biggest source of air, water and soil pollution Due to this, today's major concern is depletion of ozone layer, climatic changes and reduction in water and energy resources which has direct or indirect psychological effects. The presence of toxic substance in the environment may affect the nervous system, psychological process and emotional reactions. Any form of littered garbage, foul smell may cause discomfort increased anxiety level, lower efficiency it work. Suspended dust particles may cause respiratory disorders, there are harmful air pollutants like chemical sprays, pesticides, air conditioners, smoking, fumes from vehicles can cause various psychological disturbances like aggression, anxiety, lower performance ability, and mental retardation as it may affect the brain development. Smoking can be dangerous for the smoker and people around them inhaling (passive smokers) this may cause cancer. The industrial, hospital waste, plastic and tin waste which are non-bio degradable should be burnt and the smoke should not be allowed into the air. The unfortunate Bhopal Gas tragedy is one of major example of gas leak which claimed many lives in December 1984; it has also left behind several psychological effects like disturbed memory, attention and alertness in people who inhaled the poisonous gas Methylisocyanate (MIC). All these show that human beings are the cause for air, water and soil pollution which are having disastrous effect on their lives, it needs to be controlled by reducing usage of plastic, proper waste management, reduce usage of mobile phones, use cycles or public transport to travelin order to reduce air / noise pollution. #### Crowding Crowding refers to a feeling of discomfort because there are too many people or things around us giving a feeling of physical restriction and lack of privacy. Crowding is the person's reaction to the presence of a large number of people within a particular area or space, when it goes beyond a particular level it causes stress. Some studies have shown a correlation between urban high population density and crime rates, behavioral disorders and stress-related illnesses. The experience of crowding has the following features: - Feeling of discomfort. - Loss or decrease of privacy. - Negative view of the space around the person. - Feeling of loss of control over social interaction. It should be understood that the experience of crowding is brought about not merely because of large number of persons as such or merely because of the shortage of space. It is related to density that is reflected in the number of people in a given amount of space. Crowding with reference to psychological response to lack of space is characterized by subjective feelings of over stimulation, distress and discomfort. E.g. about half dozen people squeezing into a car where you experience discomfort, at the same time when we place more than half dozen people in a large hall we do not experience crowding. One may ask: Is crowding always experienced in high density settings and do all experience its negative effect to the same extent? If you have answered 'No' to both then you are right. When we go to a mela, or watch a cricket match or a wedding, usually the physical settings has high density but we enjoy it in that form. On the other hand if there are many people sharing a small room everyone feels the discomfort. The assumption that physical and social environment exerts on space perception could be understood by spatial proximity. When they are closely spaced it promotes friendship with neighbours and conformity with group. The contextual influences are income level of people and geographical mobility and diversity of people in a group is also has a major influence on social behaviour. The stressful effects of crowding can be understood only when we look into its consequences. A summary is given below of the effects of crowding and high density as reported by several research studies conducted in India and other countries. - Crowding and high density many lead to abnormal behavior and aggression. This was shown many years ago in a study of rats, these animals were placed in an enclosure initially in small numbers,as their population increased within this enclosed space they started showing aggressive and unusual behaviours such as biting the tails of other rats and hyper sexuality. These aggressive behaviours increased to such an extent that ultimately the animals died in large numbers, thus decreasing the population in the enclosures. Among human beings also an increase in population has sometimes been found to be accompanied by increase in violent crime. - Crowding leads to lowered performance on difficult tasks that involve cognitive processes and has adverse affect on memory and emotional state. These negative effects are seen to smaller extent in people who are used to crowded surroundings. - Children growing up in a very crowded household show lower academic performance and weaker tendency to continue working on that task. If they are unsuccessful at it compared to children growing up in non-crowded households then they experience greater conflict with their parents and get less support from their family members. - The nature of social interaction determines the degree to which an individual will react to crowding for e.g. if the interaction is a happy occasion then the presence of large number of people may lead to positive emotional reactions. - Individual differ in degree to which they show negative effects of crowding and also nature of their reactions. Two kinds of tolerance can be mentioned which explains these individuals differences i.e. Crowding tolerance and competition tolerance. Crowding tolerance refers to the ability to mentally deal with high density or crowded environment, for e.g.: people used to living in large joint families in small houses develop more crowding tolerance than people living in nuclear families. Competition tolerance is the ability to put up with a situation in which individuals would have to compete with many others for basic resources including physical space. In crowded settings possibility of competition for resources would be influenced by extent of tolerance for competition. Cultural characteristics may determine the extent to which a particular environment is judged to be subjectively more crowded or less crowded. They may affect the nature and extent of negative reactions to crowding. For e.g., in cultures which emphasise on group or collectivity over individual show better tolerance, but whether culture considers group more important than individual or the other way around, it is clear that crowding is experienced as being stressful. Personal space or the comfortable physical space one generally likes to maintain around oneself is affected by a high density environment. In a crowded context there is restriction on personal space, this can be a cause for negative reactions to crowding. In social situations human beings like to maintain a certain physical distance from person with whom they interact. This is called as inter personal physical distance and is a part of a broader concept called personal space i.e. the physical space we like to maintain around us. Personal space may vary between individuals, situations, settings and cultures. Some average distances have been observed in certain cultures. Edward Hall an anthropologist mentions four kinds of interpersonal physical distance depending on situations. - Intimate distance (upto 18inches) the distance we maintain when we are talking privately to someone, or interacting with friends or relatives. - Personal distance (18 inches to 4ft.) the distance you maintain when interacting one to one with close friends, relative, in work setting, or other social situation. - Social distance (4 to10ft). The distance maintained in formal interaction which are not very close. - Public distance (10ft to infinity) the distance you maintain in a formal setting where there is a large number of persons, for e.g. distance of an audience from public speaker. These distances are maintained voluntarily, keeping in mind the comfort experienced by person involved in interaction. However when there is shortage of space, people are forced to maintain in smaller physical distance from each other e.g. in a lift, or crowded train compartment, in such cramped spaces an individual feels crowded when freedom of movement, the sense of privacy and personal space cannot be maintained normally, the person experience stress and responds negatively with bad mood or aggressiveness and tries to leave the situation as soon as possible. The concept of personal space is important for following reasons. 1. It explains many negative effects of crowding as an environmental stressor. 2. It tells us about social relationships, for e.g. two persons sitting or standing close together are seen to be friends. 3. It gives us some idea about how physical space, can be modified in order to reduce stress or discomfort in social situations or to make social interactions more enjoyable and fruitful. ### Natural disasters So for we have seen the environmental stressors such as noise, various forms of pollution and crowding as result of human behavior. In contrast to this natural disasters are stressful event resulting from fury of nature as a consequence of disturbance caused by human beings on nature. The disasters like floods, earthquakes, tsunami, cyclones, volcanic eruptions which are beyond human control. There are other forms of disasters caused by human beings as wars, industrial accidents like leakage of poisonous gases, radioactive elements, and epidemic diseases like plague. These events are called 'disaster' as they cannot be prevented properly, they also have great psychological impact leading to Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). These disturbances need to be understood and remedied. What are the effects of natural disasters? Though science and technology is able to predict the disaster to some extent but we still are unable to control them. The damages caused are .... - They leave people poverty-stricken, homeless, without resources, when they lose everything they have. - Sudden loss of their belongings, dear ones leaves them shocked creating deep sealed psychological disturbances. Natural disasters are always very traumatic experiences emotionally wounding the survivors. - Post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) is a severe psychological disturbance resulting from traumatic experience of natural disasters. They have the following features. 1. The immediate reaction is one of disorientation, they take some time to understand the impact of these disasters, and there could also be initial denial. 2. Physical reactions such as body exhaustion without physical activity, difficulty in sleeping, change in eating patterns, increased heart beat and blood pressure, show startling reaction to minute stimulates. 3. Emotional reactions are fear, irritability, anger, and grief, helplessness eventually leading to depression, or sometimes absolute lack of emotion (numbness) or even guilt feelings for having survived when loved ones are died, blaming oneself and total lack of interest to do anything. 4. Cognitive reactions - such as worry, difficulty in concentration, reduced span of attention, confusion, loss of memory or vivid memories leading to nightmares. Frustration as they are not in position to do anything. 5. Social reactions -as withdrawal, getting into conflicts with others over basic necessities, feeling of rejection. Sometimes some survivors may actually help in healing process by developing positive outlook expressing empathy when they start helping others to adapt to the situations. This reaction may have a long time disrupting effect where they need counseling and psychiatric help. People react with different intensities to natural disasters. In general the intensity of reactions is affected by - The severity of the disaster and the loss incurred in terms of property and loved ones. - The individual's general coping ability. - People who have experienced stress earlier may find it difficult to deal with another stressful event. Although science and technology helps us to predict these natural disasters to some extent, there are ways of being prepared to minimize the effect in form of warnings, adapting safety measures and immediate attention to psychological disturbances. - The measures to be taken at the community level are - Warnings can be given to people through media e.g. Radio, TV and newspapers to bring awareness of the coming disasters and their coping mechanism e.g.: fisher men are asked not to venture into the sea when there are high tides. - Safety measures: Some tips can be given to people on how to avoid such situation or when they are sudden e.g. earthquakes people can helped to adapt by moving on to other safer places. - Treatment of psychological disorders: This includes self-help approaches along with professional help first step is to provide material relief in the form of food, clothing, medical help, shelter and financial help, then counseling at individual or group level to heal their emotional wounds. As some experts who deal with PSTD say that the survivor needs to develop an attitude of self- efficiency i.e. ' one can do it' or 'one can come out it of this phase, next is psychiatric help for extreme cases of stress, finally Rehabilitation in form of employment, adapting to relocated places, gradual return to normal life. At some stage follow up of victims and survivor is necessary to recover from traumatic experiences. ### Aggression, Violence and Peace Aggression and violence are major problems in any society. They cover a wide range of behavior from ragging of newcomer in educational institution to child abuse, domestic violence, murder, rape and from riots to terrorist attack. Psychologists use the term 'Aggression' to any behavior by one person/ persons that intend to cause harm to another person. It can be demonstrated in actual action or harsh words or criticism or even hostile feelings against others. Any forceful destructive behavior towards another person or object is described as 'Violence'. Some psychologists distinguish aggression from violence by pointing out that violent behavior involves intention to harm or injure another person, where as aggression may or may not involve such intentions. For e.g. burning buses or public property during riots is called as violence. A distinction is also made between Instrumental aggression and Hostile aggression. In instrumental aggression it is an act to obtain a certain goal or object for e.g. bullying a new student to snatch a chocolate from him. Hostile aggression is shown as an expression of anger towards the target with intention of harming him/her, even if the aggressor does not wish to obtain anything from the victim for e.g.: a criminal may beat up a person for mentioning his name to the police. ### Causes of Aggression Social Psychologists have explored the issue of aggression and come up with following views about the causes of aggression. - **Inborn tendency**: Aggressiveness is an inborn tendency among human beings as in animals which is meant for self defense. - **Physiological mechanism**: Aggression could be triggered by state of arousal or feeling activated in certain parts of brain that play a role in emotional experience that might be expressed in the form of aggression e.g. sense of crowding in hot and humid weather. - **Child rearing**: The way a child is brought up often influences his/her aggressiveness. For e.g. children whose parents use physical punishment end up becoming more aggressive than children whose parents use firm and disciplinary techniques. The child imitates his parents becomes angry and resentful when he receives physical punishment expresses anger through aggressive behaviour. - **Frustration**: Aggression is an expression and consequence of frustration i.e. an emotional reaction when he is prevented from reaching his goal or attaining what he wants. In an experiment conducted to examine the effects of frustration, children were prevented from getting toys and were observed through a screen as a result, children who did not get toys showed destructive behavior in play than children who had toys to play. - **An American psychologists John Dollard conducted research to examine frustration aggression theory and found that as expected frustrated persons did demonstrate more aggression than non-frustrated persons. Such aggression was often shown towards weaker person who are unlikely or unable to react to aggression. This phenomenon is known as displacement for e.g. member of a majority group who are prejudiced towards minority group may show aggressive behavior such as using abusive languages or physically assaulting the minority group which is a case of displaced aggression arising out of frustration.** - **Later more information was gathered about causes of aggression and found that frustration does not necessarily make a person aggressive and there are other situational features which are stated below.** - **Learning**: Among human being aggression is a result of learning than an inborn tendency, individuals may exhibit it because it is rewarding i.e. learning through direct reinforcement. - **Observing an aggressive model**: Albert Bandura showed the role of modelling in learning aggressive behavior. i.e., if the child observes aggression and violence on television and film media which have a powerful influence on viewers. The child is more prone to show aggression. He also found that it was not only learning from observation but certain other situational factors and information they receive that also has an influence on aggressive behavior. - **Anger provoking action by others**: If a person watches a movie that shows violence and is then made to feel angry, for e.g. through insults or threats, physical aggression or dishonesty by others then a person is likely to show aggression, here the individual is provoked by inducing frustration. - **Availability of weapons of aggression**: Some researchers found that observing violence may lead to aggression which could become more if weapons like stick, pistol or knife are easily available. - **Personality factors**: When we observe people interacting with others, we find that some seem to be naturally more hot tempered than others. It is also observed that people who have low self-esteem and feel insecure may behave aggressively in order to boost their ego, like wise people with high self esteem may also behave aggressively when they are not placed at high level as they place themselves. - **Cultural factors**: The culture in which one grows up can teach an individual to be aggressive or not to be aggressive for eg some tribal's are peace loving people who do not exhibit aggression whereas others may show it for their survival. ### Strategies to reduce aggression and violence We may not be able to ensure a society which is free from aggression and violence but we can curtail by creating appropriate situations and attitudes towards general problems of growing aggression. - Parents and teachers should not encourage or reward aggressive behavior in any form. The use of punishment to bring discipline also needs to be changed to being more firm. - Opportunities to observe and imitate aggressive behavior models should be reduced drastically portraying aggression as heroic behavior should be avoided. - Social injustice and poverty must be alienated in order to reduce frustration causing situations. Equality and non-discrimination should be practiced. - It is important to inculcate positive attitude towards peace as our cultural values have always favoured peace and harmonious co-existence. Mahatma Gandhiji who practiced non violence and peace was himself a great example to get us independence. ### Health In recent times understanding health and well being has under gone many changes. The definition given by World Health Organization (WHO) on 'Health' includes biological, psychological, social and spiritual aspects of life. Health and illness are a matter of degree. When one may be suffering from physically disability but are mentally healthy for e.g. Baba Amte or Stephen Hawkins who suffered from crippling diseases but have contributed immensely to society and science. The world health reports show that many developing countries such as Asia, Africa and Latin America most people die due to communicable diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, respiratory infections and nutritional deficiencies, whereas in developed countries the leading diseases are cardiovascular, cancers and psychiatric disorders. These differences explain the economic and social structure of a society. At the individual level psychologists point out various factors such as health related cognition including attitudes and beliefs, behavior and social factors related to physical well being. #### Cognition The level of awareness or information about a disease and belief about how it is caused (if they are attributed to God's anger e.g. smallpox) and the possible ways of relieving the symptoms and improving their health. It also depends on how a person perceives pain and seeks help, as some rush to doctors for minor symptoms like cold, nausea where as some do not go to doctors for simple disturbance but for severe major symptoms, this depends on perception of pain, personality factors, anxiety and social norms. #### Behaviour Psychologists have found strong evidence of effects of behavior on our health. Many physical and psychological disturbances are due to our disturbed expressions of feelings, habits developed by individuals like smoking, drug abuse, consuming alcohol, unsafe sexual behavior, diet and lack of physical exercise. These behaviours are associated with incidence of Coronary heart diseases (CHD), Cancer, HIV/AIDS and many other stress related disorders, a new branch called Behaviour Medicine has emerged which seeks to alleviate stress related disease through modification of Behaviour using various psychological therapies and counseling. #### Social and Cultural factors We find that social and cultural differences may have an influence on our physiological responses for e.g. expressions of hostility and anger may not be the same across all cultures. The cultural norms associated with roles, gender and values also differ from one to another society which may lead to various health issues. ### Impact of Television on Behaviour In the recent years there has been a tremendous change in media, especially the Electronic media with television; computers, internet facilities and mobile which is huge source delivering information to people. The psychological impact on human is both positive and negative. #### Positive effects - That people are able to communicate globally. - There is immense information available which is easily accessible. - People are influenced by advertisement and awareness programmes on Television which can bring changes in people's perception and cognition. #### Negative Effects - People can get addicted to television, internet and mobiles. - When we watch television continuously it creates dullness of mind, reducing concentration. - Social interaction is reduced - Physical and outdoor activities are reduced which may lead to obesity. - Crime rates and violence increases Many research studies carried out on children because they are seen as being much vulnerable to impact of television. 1. Television provides a large amount of entertainment and information through visual model which is more effective and attractive. So children spend a lot of time watching television. This reduces their outdoor activities, social interaction and habit of reading and writing. 2. Children's ability to concentrate on one activity reduces and their creativity and ability to understand. At the same time some programmes emphasise on positive interpersonal attitudes and give useful factual information about environment, life style of different cultures, about nature, science and technology which enhances a child's knowledge. 3. Some countries like USA and Canada have debated on the effects of Television viewing on aggressiveness and violence among people. Results of research shows that watching violence in linked to greater aggressiveness if the viewers are children as they tend to imitate what they see as they are not mature enough to understand the consequences of such behavior. But in some cases watching violence may actually reduce natural aggressive tendency of viewers: like what is bottled up may get an outlet and thus cleanses the system. This process is known as Catharsis. Many products are advertised on television which has influenced people to develop consumerist attitude as viewers gets carried away. These results shows sufficient evidence of unlimited television viewing may pose many problems like violence, crime rate and aggression among certain viewers in certain provoked situations. **ACTIVITY:** Collect articles and pictures on Environment depletion Make a chart to signify a clean environment **Points to Remember:** 1. Environmental psychology is a field which understands the interplay of human and nature. 2. Ecology is the study of relationship between living beings and their environment. ### Poverty and discrimination From the Socio-Psychological view point the most accepted definition of poverty is that it is a condition in which there is a lack of necessities of life in the context of unequal distribution of wealth in society. Some experts define poverty in economic terms, the amount spent on food, clothing and shelter measured in terms of income and nutrition some that thdicators are phivation and social disadvantages are additiona other indicators are physical health and literacy rate. Some authors say features of poverty. Deprivation refers to feelings of not getting what they deserve, it is a perception and thinking that one has got less than what they should have got, whereas poverty refers to actual shortage of necessary resources. Poverty and deprivation are linked to social disadvantages ie some sections of society are not able to enjoy the privileges as the rest of the society which poses an obstacle to the growth of the society. Caste system and population is large source of social disadvantage, but poverty irrespective of caste has a role in creating social disadvantages. In context of poverty discrimination refers to behavior that makes distinction between rich and poor (class discrimination) which is seen in matters of social interaction, education and employment, where the disadvantaged people though capable have not enjoyed the opportunities as others in the society. Discrimination becomes the cause and consequence of poverty and social unjustice which has to be removed. #### Psychological characteristic and Effects of Poverty and discrimination Indian sociologists, psychologists and economists have undertaken systematic research on the growing problems of poverty and discrimination in Indian societies and their observation shows that these problems have an adverse effect on motivation, personality, social behavior, cognitive process and mental health. - In terms of motivation, the poor have low aspirations and low achievement motivation and high need for dependence. They sense that external factors are controlling them rather than factors within. - With regard to personality, they show low self-esteem and high anxiety; they dwell with present rather than long term goals as they live in sense of hopelessness, powerlessness, and experience loss of identity and feeling of injustices. - In terms of social behavior they exhibit an attitude of resentment towards the society. - Effects of prolonged deprivation on cognitive functioning- It has been found that intellectual performance on tasks as verbal reasoning, time perception and pictorial depth perception is low in highly deprived compared to those less deprived. - The poor may suffer from emotional and adjustment problems as they are constantly worried about basic necessities, feelings of insecurity or inability to get proper medical facilities, feeling a sense of hopelessness and loss of identity which may cause a sense of depression. ### Major Causes of Poverty Poverty is sometimes caused by natural disaster as earthquakes, floods, cyclones or man-made disasters as gas leak. When such event occurs people suddenly lose everything leading to poverty or one generation may not be able to eradicate poverty which may continue to the next generation. However there are differences of opinion regarding the importance of these factors. - The geographical regions in which one lives can be significant cause of poverty for e.g. people living in deserts or hilly region where there is a shortage of resources and face harsh climates end up being poor. However attempts are being made to help them find alternative means of livelihood and provide facilities like education and employment. - Economic, social and political factors also account for poverty because of discrimination when they are denied of opportunities to get even the basic necessities. The social and political exploitation make the economic system to grow in a disproportionate way where the poor experience social injustice, deprivation, discrimination and exclusion. - As they lack motivation and abilities to put in effort they may remain poor. - It is the belief system called “culture of Poverty”, which may convince them to remain poor as a way of life and the values they have been brought up with can be carried over from one generation to the other. - The poverty cycle is another cause of poverty as it tends to continue with the same section of society. Beginning with low income and lack of resources the poor go through low health and nutrition, lack of education and lack of skills. This leads to low employment opportunities which in turn continues with the same situations. - And other major concern of developing countries is rapid growth of population in developing countries which has a demographic effect (where people are moving to urban areas from rural in need of jobs and facilities) which is leading to reduction of green belts around the urban cities which is leading to increase in congestion, density of population which is causing water, energy, land and other basic necessities are affected. ### Measures for Poverty Alleviation The only way to tackle the problems of poverty and deprivation is to work actively and earnestly towards reduction and removal of poverty. Some measures are described below. - Steps are being taken by government and other groups towards alleviation or reduction of poverty and its consequences. - By providing financial relief, medical facilities help to break the poverty cycle and attain self-sufficiency. - To make the poor take responsibility, this step will help them regain sense of hope, control and self identity.. - To provide education and employment opportunities which help them to discover their abilities and skills in turn it helps in reducing crime and violence. Measures should be taken to improve their physical and mental health by creating awareness. The concept of 'Antyodaya', i.e., upliftment of poor to better economic condition. Under this programme there is provision for health facilities, nutrition, education and training for employment. These programs are more active in rural than urban areas. The poor are encouraged to start small-scale business by providing small loans or micro-credit facility through Grameena Banks. Following the 73rd constitutional amendment the aim is to give more power to people for development through decentralised planning and people's participation. Action Aid an international group dedicated to the alleviation of poor has goals of making the poor sensitive to right of equality and justices, also ensuring adequate nutrition, health, education and employment facility. If efforts towards poverty alleviation continue with the great spirit and right direction we may see positive results soon. ### Activity: Ask your teacher to help you to conduct a role play, with your classmates some enacting the role of victims of natural disasters with PSTD, while others as counselors. Get the opinion of your classmates and teachers about the behavior and emotions observed. Now let us look into some environmental friendly behaviors and practices