The majority of you who are reading this have heard the term “tragedy of the commons” before. It might’ve been in your gen-ed economics class (that’s where I first heard it), this psychology course, or maybe you’ve always been woke. Regardless of how you became familiar with the topic, the tragedy of the commons situation is real and here to stay. Garret Hardin explained this is what occurs when “each person is locked into a system that compels him to increase his harvesting without limit. Ruin is the destination toward which we all rush, each pursuing his own best interest” (Hardin 1989, p. 1244). Basically what Hardin is saying here is, we are all in the same pattern of taking as much as we want for our own gain, ultimately it will end in a self-created disaster.
So what makes this a dilemma? Well, people have two options. They can either A: get ahead and live the way they want to at the expense of the commons (resources) or B: restrain themselves and use the commons in a slower and more selfless manner (Gifford 2016, 450). This is where the psychology aspect comes in, obviously it is more pleasurable to do what we want, how we want when we want, but to what gain if it ends in our own demise? Another facet of psych in this scenario are the individuals who say are very eco-friendly and take exceptional care of mother earth, yet act quite differently. Such behavior results in cognitive dissonance. From their dissonance they are cornered into making a change, will they change their walk or their talk?
Over time our excessive use of the commons has resulted in a downward spiral of our quality of life and the quality of the earth. This is better known as, climate change. About a year ago an article was published in Psychology Today by Ronald E. Riggio, Ph. D., asking the million-dollar question, “If we are facing a crisis, why aren’t more people concerned?” Dr. Riggio explains that several things play into our lack of action-taking, but ultimately it boils down to psychological processes. In laymen’s terms, people are resistant to change, climate change is a big change that will take even bigger change to slow, stop, and/or reverse the damage that has been done.
Now we know psychological processes are why we aren’t doing anything, but what processes are key here? I’m glad you asked. Dr. Riggio elaborated on four factors. The first of these is denial, many people deny climate change, believe it is a conspiracy etc. Therefore, these individuals see no reason to take action. The second reason is rationalization. People decide that since there are so many mixed opinions or since their government isn’t doing much, then they don’t have to either. The third process is a classic example of the diffusion of responsibility. Mentally these individuals are thinking along the lines of, “there are enough other people aware, that they will be taking action, so I don’t have to.” Lastly, egocentrism. Many people are too stubborn or unwilling to sacrifice their own comforts for the well-being of the whole.
To me, it comes as no surprise that our quality of life is declining. Many want the opposite to happen but are not willing to be consistent in the actions required to do so. This is not to say [those] people are bad, they are just as human as the rest of us. Personally, I am guilty of the same. Hopefully increasing the awareness of the situation, as well as our reasons for the lack of change, can allow us to be more intentional in combatting our own habits in order to combat the change of the climate.
References
Gifford, R. (2016). Applied Social Psychology : Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Retrieved from: ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=5945490.
Hardin, G. (1968). The tragedy of the commons. Science, 162, 1243– 1248.
Applied Social Psychology : Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. Retrieved from: ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/pensu/detail.action?docID=5945490.
Riggio, R. (2019). Why aren’t we doing something about global warming? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201908/why-aren-t-we-doing-something-about-global-warming