written by Cyn Roebuck | Applied Social Psychology (ASP)

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19
Apr 15

Recreating cool – Stop Bullying Now

by Cynthia Roebuck

Bullying happens everywhere in classrooms and playgrounds in our youth’s lives, but also it is happening on our college campuses and even workplaces and our personal adult lives. Bullying has gained lots of recognition in the media with schools implementing anti-bulling programs. But most of these programs seem to attack the already developed behavior whereas addressing why the behavior was allowed to develop into a problem for society has less attention. In letters shared between Einstein and Freud, Freud argued that aggression was natural (Einstein & Freud, 1932), but behavior can be modified through social learning principles. Bandura posits that situational, cognitive, and reinforcement controls should be targeted instead of focusing on traits or historical reasons and brings to the topic Ackerman’s beliefs that the child acts out not because they are not loved, but because they cannot trust (Bandura, 1973, p. 245).

This points to the importance of the moral climate in a classroom, because this is where youth develop an understanding of what the social norms are for aggression, and it is an area in much need of research when considering the commonality across the world of school violence occurring (Alexitch, 2012, p.210). Because most emerging adults socialize primarily in an electronic environment via text, chat, social media, and video games, they are faced with forms of indirect aggression in the form of social bullying called cyberbullying. This form of bullying involves directly telling a person they are not wanted, excluding them from group activities, ignoring, spreading rumors, keeping other friends away, and creating situations where the person will be embarrassed. This is understood to be a form of psychological violence carried out to inflict psychological harm onto another (StuartCassel, Terzain, and Bradshaw, 2013; Taki, Slee, Hymel, Pepler, Sim & Swearer, 2008).

Taki et al. did a longitudinal comparative study to determine the long-term effects of indirect aggression in Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and the United States (2008). They found there to be long lasting psychological harm caused from indirect aggression, but because the scars were not visible proper attention to the seriousness of this behavior are not considered thoroughly enough ( p. 4). They identify three forms — “membership, power of exchangeable status, and frequency of victimization” (p. 6), and it occurs in several scenarios — taking something away, teasing, ignoring, and exclusion (p. 7). Interestingly enough, collectivist societies have given this type of bullying its own name — Japan: ijime and Korea: wang-ta. Is cyberbullying a version of this in America?

Interventions to prevent bullying behavior from developing should be set in place at grade schools to encourage a collaboration amongst students in order to break down the social barriers by modifying aggressive behaviors in individuals through showing alternative ways to work together. This is why the jigsaw classrooms have been invited into places like Columbine in Colorado to try to counteract the negative effects of cliques (Gilbert, 2001). Aronson was invited to Columbine to advise on a collaborative learning environment called the jigsaw classroom that restructures the classroom environment into smaller groups with students engaging with each other to collectively accomplish the requirements of the lesson instead of competing to be better than one another (McNulty, 2004). The jigsaw classrooms have shown to change the attitudes of students and lead to behavioral change as stereotypes are discarded as classmates begin to see more than the one dimensional stereotype through interaction with one another (APA, 2015). This approach to learning has also been found to be successful in undergraduate studies (Lom, 2012).

Together we can better identify and make known what bullying is, so we can remove any ambiguity surrounding recognizing direct and indirect aggressive bullying behavior. If we do, then, the bystander effect where someone may not help will be reduced, because recognizing that a person is being bullied will easily be seen for what it is. In the meantime, take a moment each day to do one random act of kindness through engaging with your environment. Set an example that it is okay to care, and speak up…

References

Alexitch, L.R. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to Education in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381.

APA. (2015). How to Build a Better Educational System: Jigsaw Classrooms. American Psychological Association. Retrieved 30 January 2015 from http://www.apa.org/research/action/jigsaw.aspx.

Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression. Prentice-Hall. ISBN: 0-13-020743-8.

Einstein, A & Freud, S (1932). Why war? Einstein’s letter to Freud and Freud’s Response. Sequoia Free Press reprint 2010. ASIN: B003NZ932K.

Gilbert, S. (2001). A CONVERSATION WITH/Elliot Aronson; No One Left to Hate: Averting Columbines. New York Times. Retrieved 23 March 2015 from http://www.njbullying.org/Aronsoninterview.txt.

Lom, B. (2012). Classroom Activities: Simple Strategies to Incorporate Student-Centered Activities within Undergraduate Science Lectures. Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education, 11(1), A64–A71.

Maryland GovPics. (2014). It’s Cool to be Nice. First Lady Katie O’Malley Attends a National Anti Bullying Event at Mother Seton Academy. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/15356566737/in/photolist-pFd5sr-pDmkbA-oJAgRh-oJAghw-pp1qh2-oJAfcq-poZH4S-pFd1t4-pp1odT-pp3ixj-pFw1ML-pp3hv9-pp3gTY-pFrGfX-q7s3Rr-duXQEq-oJDgN4-a3wTiC-dpdReD-dpe1kJ-dpdQRp-dpdZPd-dpdQmr-dpdZus-dpdQ1B-dpdPPP-dpdZ1S-dpdPwi-dpdPo6-dpdPbT-dpdNXZ-dpdNNM-dpdNDv-dpdXQA-dpdXDw-dpdXrC-dpdMT4-dpdMJV-dpdWTJ-dpdMkp-dpdMan-dpdWhW-dpdW4W-dpdVV9-dpdLfk-dpdKW8-dpdV51-dpdUVE-dpdUL7-dpdUsW.

McNulty, J. (2004). Preventing Columbine: Psychologist Elliot Aronson delivers Faculty Emeritus Lecture February 11. UC Santa Cruz Currents Online. Retrieved from http://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/02-02/aronson.html.

Stuart-Cassel, V, Terzain, M, & Bradshaw, C. (2013). SOCIAL BULLYING: Correlates, Consequences, and Prevention. Safe Supportive Learning. Retrieved 18 Feb 2015 from http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/1315%20NCSSLE%20Social%20Bullying%20d7_lvr_0.pdf.

Taki, M., Slee, P., Hymel, S., Sim, H-O, & Swearer, S. (2008). A New Definition and Scales for Indirect Aggression in Schools. International Journal of Violence and School. Retrieved 2 Feb 2015 from http://www.ijvs.org/files/Revue-07/01.-Taki-Ijvs-7.pdf.

Working Word. (2009). Anti-bullying Respect Tour 2009. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/workingword/4663156174/in/photolist-874TSo-5ZZxpm-hSsF8H-hSsE4m-bzbf5r-4ZXvxq-bmgnJW-bmgn1C-bmgiys-bmgV25-bzbMdz-bmgUDA-bmgUpd-bzbLwp-bmgTYj-bzbL7c-bzbKVc-bzbKJ6-bmgT1C-bzbK7X-bzbfR4-bzbfEB-bmgnzU-bzbePH-bzbeoK-bmgmxL-bmgmmy-bzbdBp-bzbdqV-bzbdag-bmgkm5-bmgkbj-bmgjWE-bzbcoH-bmgjBj-bzbbWT-bzbbJt-bmgiXU-bzbbm6-bmgijY-bmgi77-bmghSC-bzbabx-bzb9M4-bmggXj-bmggN5-bmggA3-bmggqW-bzb8KV-bzbKyi.

by Cynthia Roebuck
April 19, 2015

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05
Apr 15

Urban Overload, starring the bystanders . . .

by Cynthia Roebuck

Rushing to our next destination we give very little thought to the obstacle we jump or the homeless person we avoid eye contact with because all we had in our pocket was a card. It was just a blur. The ear buds keep the hellos from reaching our ears, and we use these psychological tricks to compartmentalize and filter sidewalk and commuting moments so we can accomplish all we need to do in our time budgeted sensitive lives. These are the six identifiable signs of stimulus overload Milgram (1977) identified. Some times we can find ourselves so caught up in our lives that we can miss a tree of money that Amy Krause Rosenthal and friends demonstrate in this video.

Courtesy Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s “The Money Tree” (copyright reserved)

In this light hearted video of kind minded folks, the possible stimulus overload showing some self-absorbed people is humorous. But, when an ambiguous emergency situation is happening, people may retreat into themselves and look to others in the area for social cues on what to do. When no one else is reacting, personal responsibility becomes diffused into the group lessening the dissonance one may feel for a need to react. Unfortunately, if all people in the immediate environment of an ambiguous emergency situation fall victim to the bystander effect no help at all may be rendered (Lafreniere, Page, & Senn, 2012, p. 313).

Aronson, Wilson, & Akert (2012) in their fantastic introductory textbook to social psychology discuss a significant piece of research showing how to take the power away from this effect. It’s very simple. Make people aware of it. Beman, Barnes, Klentz, & McQuirk’s (1978) randomly assigned students to two groups where one listened to a Latane and Darley (1970) lecture on the bystander effect and the other listened to a random lecture (as cited in Aronson et al., 2012). Then, two weeks went by and the participants were called in for an unrelated sociology lecture by Beaman et al. who invented this lecture as an excuse to get the students on a path were a confederate was laying on the floor in an ambiguous enough manner that it could not be immediately understood if the confederate was hurt or sleeping (as cited in Aronson, et al., 2012, pp. 344). Students who had listened to the bystander effect two weeks prior even when accompanied by a confederate who acted unconcerned took responsibility of engaging in the situation to ascertain if something was in fact wrong 43% of the time; whereas participants who were not aware of the bystander effect engaged with the confederate laying on the floor only 25% of the time (Aronson et al., 2012, p. 345). This is good evidence to warrant community workshops that make residents aware of this effect so as to prevent it from happening.

This research along with my classmates saying again and again in their personal responses to a question posed in our class about how much of an affect knowing about this effect had on their lives that I felt it warranted time in one of my blog posts. An introduction to this phenomena should be given by police when doing community projects on crime prevention. It should be introduced to young people as a way of discouraging bullying, because if they see something, they should say something. If we are made aware of why and how apathy forms, then maybe we can change it into empathy and work towards engaging with our environments more.

So as I balance through my day, I keep my eyes open because I know so many will not, but now after reading this I hope you too will keep your eyes open and begin again to engage with your community. Enjoy life, start seeing your environment & make it better.

References

Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10:0-13-814478-8.

Lafreniere, KD, Page, S. & Senn, CY. (2012). Applying Social Psychology to the Community. (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978- 1412976381.

Milgram, S. (1977). The individual in a social world: essays and experiments. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Roebuck, CM. (2014). Urban Overload. Markers and Paper.

Rosenthal, AK. (2010). The Money Tree. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsN8FUV9nS4.

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22
Mar 15

Breaking the disability schemas

by Cynthia Roebuck

The United Nations (1982) reported “more than 500 million people in the world are disabled as a consequence of mental, physical or sensory impairment” bringing global attention for a need to create environments where disabled people can participate fully in society. Participation through socialization and interaction with our environment is how our sense of identity, beliefs, and attitudes are developed (Lerner, 2002, as cited in Manago et al., 2008). But when was the last time that you had a meaningful interaction with a disabled person not in your family? What about viewing a positive role model of a disabled person on more than one or two TV shows? This lack of opportunity to interact with disabled people results in seeing all disabled people in one homogeneous category that is discriminatory. This creates attitudinal barriers where all disabled people are seen to have deficits (French, 1996; Sanders & Dubois, 1996, as cited in Albiero-Walton, 2003, p. 4). I would like to take this opportunity to address a few positive events and activities that diminish this schema and highlight interventions that are creating a better world through normal interaction, culture/media, and sports.

In the news recently (Kenosha News, 2015), there was an enlightening and happy story about a cheerleader from Kenosha, Wisconsin. During one of her basketball games, some mean kids in the stands started to taunt her, and one of the players during a time out went and told these bullies to stop. The school has since renamed the gym D’s House in honor of Desiree Andrews, the tween cheerleader with down’s syndrome who cheers on the team’s squad. This is the result of a cooperative learning environment that the school has provided for its students that would allow Desiree to participate. Desiree and her classmates win valuable lessons of how our similarities associated with being human can be more rewarding than comparisons of our differences. Plus, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2015) requires schools to provide opportunities for students to interact with their classmates in some regular classroom settings, and cooperative learning projects have shown success in that students without disabilities step up to assist friends with disabilities and vice-versa (ERIC, 1993). This results in the healthy relationships we can see here and reduces social categorization.

Reality television is also assisting to break these negative socially constructed stereotypes that Kama (2004) has described as the supercrip or pitiful handicapped, but as she rightly notes the disabilities are not socially constructed (p. 450). One example is Season 25 of the Amazing Race (CBS, 2015). Bethany Hamilton played that season, and after one episode of observing Bethany, you forgot she had a disability even though she only had one arm. This is a result of reality television giving the viewer an ability to watch contestants interact through the game in a more natural and real way. This allowed for new social norms to form in the minds of the viewers empowering viewers to see similarities without focusing on the differences. This enhances our culture and is a powerful tool for rapidly advancing outdated and unhealthy behaviors resulting from bad schemas formed from stereotypes seen on television.

Equally important is the ability for disabled persons to be able to participate in sports. This month in Seoul the International Blind Sports Association (2015) had its World Games where athletes competed in football, goalball, judo, powerlifting, showdown, swimming, tenpin, and chess (IBSA, 2015). Missing from their events, but surely to be added soon is an up and coming sport of tennis. The International Blind Tennis Association (Benson, 2015) is now established in several countries with a meeting last year in Texas that proved very promising for its entry into the USA. These are important activities empowering individuals with vision impairments to lead more normal lives.

In conclusion, legislation, recreation, culture, and sports are the only realms addressed here. However, it is important to note in addition to these areas the United Nations (1982) calls for an “equalization to opportunities” in the realms of “physical environment, income maintenance and social security, education and training, employment, and religion.” The answer to attaining these goals can be found in some of the interventions listed here, but these are not inclusive. We should continue to strive for environments and activities that enable disabled persons an ability to participate in the activities that make up our normal days. This will break the negative stereotypes and unjust schemas that participation through collaboration and interaction with one another creates (Aronson, 2010).

References

Albiero-Walton, J. (2003). General Self-Efficacy of College Students with Disabilities. Paper presented at the American Counseling Association Conference. Retrieved 16 March 2015 from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED473634.

Aronson, E., Wilson, T.D., & Akert, R.M. (2010). Social Psychology. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10:0-13-814478-8.

Benson, C. (2014). First International Blind Tennis Congress Meet in McAllen. USTA News. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://www.texas.usta.com/Wheelchair/first_international_blind_tennis_congress
_meet_in_mcallen/.

CBS. (2015). Bethany Hamilton. The Amazing Race. Retrieved 21 March 2015 from http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/cast/214927/.

ERIC. (1993). Including Students with Disabilities in General Education Classrooms. ERIC EC Digest #E521. Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/Including.Students.html.

IBSA. (2015). Seoul 2015 ABSA World Games. Internatonal Blind Sports Federation. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://ibsasport.org/.

IBTA. (2014). XXXI Campeonato Nacional De Atletism Para Ciegos Y Debiles Visuales, Merida, Yucatan. ‎International Blind Tennis Association. Retrieved 22 March 2015 from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204192709807173&set=oa.252804728250225&type=3&
theater.

IDEA. (2015). Building the Legacy: IDEA 2004. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved 22 March 2015 from http://idea.ed.gov/.

Kama, A. (2004). Supercrips versus the pitiful handicapped: Reception of disabling images by disabled audience members. The European Journal of Communication Research. 03412059/2001/029-0447.

Kenosha News (2015). LINCOLN MIDDLE SCHOOL CELEBRATES D’S HOUSE. Retrieved 12 March 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gva_cWjBdw.

Manago, A., Graham, M., Greenfield, P., & Salimkhan, G. (2008). Self-presentation And Gender On MySpace. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Retrieved March 16, 2015.

Rupert, N. (2013). Bethany Hamilton surfing at Oceanside today. Retreived 21 March 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nathaninsandiego/9439290296/in/photolist-fo7Q9q-43z9A9-43uYrJ-43uYrf-fnSAbk-fnSyPR-fo277Z-fo7M3f-43uYrw-cGLRpq-4aRuVG-fnSyrg-fnSxoa-o9J12p-hTuyve-7CPaQm-7cPn9K-pEbL8j-39Goh9-fo7DcV-e24Pen-e2aEbY-e2aPto-e24qgp-e2aKRC-cyUrRA-9xWBXa-e24GF6-e2aRxN-e254h4-e2aHsE-e24Aag-e2anKs-e24onn-e24xUD-e2amSf-e2a8Gq-e24yHx-e2aiQb-e2atxb-e24pb4-e2528B-e24zxM-e24QUi-e254UD-e24EYi-e25aGZ-e24Mz2-e2adT7-e24sfg.

U.N. (1982). World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons. United Nations. Retrieved 19 March 2015 from http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=23.

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01
Mar 15

Human beings trying to be human and not humanesque

by Cynthia Roebuck

Did you know 1 in 1,000 to 1,500 children are born sexually ambiguous, and the practice of gender assignment is carried out by medical procedures at birth (Cummings, 2010, p. 148; Conway, 2006; Fausto-Sterling, 2000; Kessler, 1990; Dredger, 1998)? Dr. John Money in 1955 while working at John Hopkins began the practice of assigning gender at birth (Fausto-Sterling, 2000). He established the social norm for a child born sexually ambiguous to have her parents and doctors decide on his sex. Dr. Money’s theories proclaim a “gender gate” of neutrality that stays open till around the age of two, so the reality of gender can be constructed simply by raising the child as the sex assigned (Tischler, 2014, p. 76).

This forced identity with either male or female gender is arbitrary to the natural being of a human being. The recognition of only male/female or straight/gay limits the depth of the intellect and creates a harmful social environment that can create constant dissonance for so many trying to fit into the role assigned. It is this socially constructed reality that is in need of a revision. It is this dimorphic view that has led us to look at the differences between male and female and not the similarities or variabilities between the sexes (Jhally, 2009).

There are many cultures around the world today having more than one gender including Germany with a birth certificate option of indeterminate (Chapel, 2013). In this map, cultures around the planet are identified that recognize more than two forms of gender.

Anthropological evidence also points to variations throughout time and space of two genders being present and recognized within global cultures (Puts, 2012). Today the North American Task Force on Intersex has endorsements from “the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Urological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American College of Medical Genetics, the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, the Society for Pediatric Urology, the Society for Fetal Urology, and the Society of Genitourinary Reconstructive Surgeons” to name a few supporting the need to revamp the way sex is assigned at birth (Chase, 2008).

So, this is a challenge to all media to put forth the effort to give us positive representations of transgendered people, so we can begin to correct the stereotypical misrepresentation of so many. Allow humanity to be expressed in all its wonderful shapes and hues and society will follow, because in our busy lives we often only associate with those we know. Our social cues for interacting with those different from ourselves often are formed through media exposure, but the problem with this is there is no trial and error learning (Bandura, 2006). Media presents a single symbolic representation, but when the representation is a stereotype, a segment of society can be marginalized through audiences developing their social cues from what they were exposed to in the media. “In conclusion, transsexualism is strongly associated with the neurodevelopment of the brain…The condition has not been found to be overcome by contrary socialisation, nor by psychological or psychiatric treatments …” (GIRES, as cited in Conley, 2006). It is a form of being human.

References

Bandura, A. (1986). Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-815641-X 01.

Chappell, B. (2013). Germany Offers Third Gender Option On Birth Certificates. National Public Radio. Retrieved 23 January 2015 from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/01/242366812/germany-offers-third-gender-option-on-birth-certificates.

Chase, C. & Aaronson, I. (2008). North American Task Force on Intersex Formed. Intersex Society of North America. Retrieved 6 February 2015 from http://www.isna.org/node/153.

Conway, L. (2006). Basic TG/TS/IS Information. University of Michigan. Retrieved 29 January 2015 from http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/TS.html.

Eytan, T. (2013). I SUPPORT photo. Rally for Transgender Equality 21176. Retrieved 19 February 2015 from https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/8603717323/in/photolist-fa1pU-pXLmc8-drbvg-qYFp6L-qLuCEj-j3yJ6-7yFqQP-7h4zDD-e7hipR-NHLdq-mEwTCq-q57aGY-8q94PM-e7hhqD-ndU2MK-6B1Ffb-e7nWHU-5tf2gA-e7nVXJ-e7nVzj-dvcDVd-7mTVrd-5otHqH-gdKmK-nDmSCD-o4o72q-63nebf-aBj7NW-7cARDf-78b16d-5ELJFo-5bWgco-pr3gB2-icYznx-qgEiNw-qxXh7P-qhQD8u-pQspnd-oV53Wc-pQp9vz-pwSY85-p8ZJga-nASJma-4xfLxD-nb7xLz-48uWw1-8TNgHF-paQGp3-nZxSty-nGqTr7.

Jhally, S. (2009). The Codes of Gender, Identity and Performance in Pop Culture. Media Educational Foundation. ISBN: 1-932869-39-5.

Public Broadcasting Service. (n.d.) A Map of Gender-Diverse Cultures. Independent Lens. Retrieved 23 January 2015 from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/map.html.

Puts, D.A. (2012). The Evolution of Human Sexuality, An Anthropological Perspective. p. 109-113. UNIT III Sexes and Genders. 2nd Edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, IO.

Tischler, H. (2014). Introduction to Sociology. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN: 13-978-1-133-58805-5.

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12
Feb 15

Shhh, don’t say it: Climate Change

by Cynthia Roebuck

What a dilemma we find ourselves — shortages of water (USDA, 2014a), depletion of fish (main source of protein for billions) as a result of overfishing and ocean acidification (World Health Organization, n.d.), elimination of natural forests at alarming rates (Discovery, n.d.), large numbers of species on the critical endangered lists (IUCN, 2014), and land loss from rising sea levels and sinking lands (IPCC, 2008, p. 20). These problems are not just in remote African villages or an island in the Philippines. We are experiencing these tragedies here in the USA now, and it is irrefutably proven by thousands of global scientists working independently that human beings are largely to blame for the cause of these conditions through the excessive amounts of carbon input into the environment (IPCC, 2014). It is also important to note the federal government made a firm stand on the recognition of climate change being a reality with the USDA (2014b) opening seven Climate Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change with two additional sub-hubs in the Southeast and Midwest to assist farmers and researchers to find ways to mitigate the changing environment. Our Central Intelligence Agency as far back as 2009 has considered climate change as a national security issue, but all countries with resources do this also.

The problem is so vast and so serious that it should be considered a public health risk and interventions should be considered on this merit. This is why the stages of change model that is usually used to address addictions may be able if applied to this problem help in sorting through the confusion of people’s addiction to behaviors that are harmful to the environment they live in, e.g. not recycling. According to Lafreniere & Cramer (2012), the five stages are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance with each stage being interchangeable (p. 181). This post only considers one pro and con example for each stage as it has been experienced in the USA with specific attention given to efforts at Pennsylvania State University (PSU).

The first stage is precontemplation; and, looking at the surrounding communities around University Park in Pennsylvania or any area in the USA, it can be realized not all communities have decided to be guided by scientific proof of the need for reducing individual household’s carbon footprint. The second stage involves contemplating the problem and considering how to mitigate and adapt to these changes. This contemplation is currently facilitated in American institutes brought about through drought that is so severe in eight states that specific areas were declared disaster areas last year (USDA, 2014a; USDA, 2014b). Also prompting research and contemplation is the 80% reductions in oyster populations in Oregon and Washington (Barton, Hales, Waldbusser, Langdon & Feely, 2006), extreme weather causing devastation across the nation (New Jersey and New Orleans), and red tides at Florida beaches (Stein, 2014) to name a few specific areas of scientific research; but, there are also segments within society refusing to contemplate the future beyond their lifetime. How do you reach this niche? This is when contemplation needs to consider enacting penalties to bring about compliance, e.g. emission tests. The third stage of this model is preparation. This is when communities have made a commitment to lessen their carbon output; but, then, there are those industries that cannot or will not lessen their carbon release without sanctions. The fourth stage is action. This is happening now with new standards for electrical suppliers requiring an accountability for their carbon emissions. It is also happening in national businesses developing national recycling programs. But, without the right resources for implementing these programs some communities discontinue their environmental services of this nature, and some branches of a business will ignore the national policy. How can you change this attitude? A whole new set of schemas need to be introduced so that new social norms can be established.

This may be happening right now through Pennsylvania State University’s Sustainability Institute’s zero waste campaign conducted through the green team, Mobius, at the University Park campus (PSU, 2013). This program has the possibility of fulfilling the fifth stage of the stages of change model — maintenance.

The reasoning for viewing Pennsylvania State University’s Sustainability Institute at having possible success in the maintenance stage is because the recycling program enacted on PSU’s University campus targets changing students’ behavior that may possibly change students’ social norms off of campus. This is attempted through recycling and composting programs introduced on campus that utilize peripheral routes to persuasion through placing signs and recycle and compost bins in all university buildings. Central routes to persuasion have also been developed through Mobius introducing sound reasoning and facts to students to help with an understanding of how a thrown out pizza box consumes energy. This knowledge should help students comply with recycling to relieve dissonance that may occur when recycling is ignored, and it has potential for staying with the student when they graduate because of the years of practicing this routine while they are at school.

Of course, it cannot be known if Mobius’ sustainability efforts can alter social norm without a way to measure it. But, we do know students at University Park are embracing recycling. In 2013, PSU generated 14,204 tons of waste at University Park with 60% of it recycled, and it was 1,248 tons less than in 2012 (PSU, 2014a). It should also be noted composting efforts implemented last year resulted in 850 tons of food waste being turned into 2,305 tons of mulch for campus grounds (PSU, 2014a). This tells us Mobius is effective in the here and now at changing students’ behavior, but will students carry this behavior with them off of campus as their implicit attitude?

Given these points of its success, there needs to be evaluations to determine the effectiveness of Mobius’ platform in bringing about an attitude change. This type of an evaluation will also provide quantitative data that other institutions can consider in creating programs of similar design. Now is the time to do this. It can be accomplished with administering a questionnaire to incoming freshman students’ to gauge their attitudes on recycling and energy consumption, and it does not have to involve costs of the whole student body. It can be done with a good stratified sample of the student body. Questionnaires should be completed at the beginning of incoming freshmen’s first semester, repeated each year before graduation, and ideally two years after graduation. This could document if intrinsic attitudes will change when students interact with Mobius’ sustainability programs at University Park, and it can reveal what the length of time it takes to effect attitude with this approach. But, the real test of Mobius’ effectiveness will be revealed in the administering of the same questionnaire two years after graduation to the same sample. I believe because the students are immersed in an environment that considers recycling in all areas of professional and personal life during their four years on campus that it will have an impact on their implicit attitudes resulting in recycling and sustainability considerations becoming second nature. But, we will have to wait to see for this, but we do know that it is effective in the here and now. And, it is exciting to consider the large student body of international and rural American students taking these healthy practices home with them and changing the behaviors of their hometowns.

References

Barton, A., Hales, B., Waldbusser, G.F., Langdon, C. & Feely, R.A. (2006). The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, shows negative correlation to naturally elevated carbon dioxide levels: Implications for near-term ocean acidification effects. Limnology Oceanographer, 57(3), 2012, 698-710. DOI: 10.4319/lo.2012.57.3.0698.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2009). CIA Opens Center on Climate Change and National Security. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/center-on-climate-change-and-national-security.html.

Discovery. (n.d.) Threats to Biodiversity. Curiosity, Discovery. Retrieved from http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/deforestation-biggest-threat-biodiversity.

IPCC. (2008). Chapter 2 Observed and projected changes in climate as they relate to water. International Panel for Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_technical_papers.shtml

IPCC. (2014). Organization. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization.shtml.

IUCN. (2014). International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Red List of threatened Species. Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/4967/0.

Lafreniera, K.D. & Cramer, K.M. (2015). Applying Social Psychology to Health, in Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (2nd ed.) F.W. Schnedier, J.A. Gruman, & L.M. Coutts (Eds.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381.

Pennsylvania State University (2013). green.psu.edu. Retrieved from http://www.green.psu.edu/.

Pennsylvania State University. (2014a). Recycling and Waste Management. Retrieved online at: http://www.green.psu.edu/ or http://sustainability.psu.edu/live/faculty-researchers/recycling-waste-management/recycle#stats.

Stein, L. (2014). Massive red tide bloom washing off Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast. Reuters. Retrieved 7 February 2015 from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/us-usa-florida-redtide-idUSKBN0G72FG20140807.

USDA. (2014a). Disaster and Drought Information. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from http://usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=DISASTER_ASSISTANCE.CC.

USDA. (2014b). Office of the Chief Economist. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.usda.gov/oce/climate_change/regional_hubs.htm.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Global and regional food consumption patterns and trends. World Health Organization. http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/3_foodconsumption/en/index4.html.

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