Aim
A sustainable environment includes environmental, economical and social dimensions. The full potential of advancements in the technical development will not be expressed in the efforts to achieve a sustainable development if people are not prepared to accept the technology. Human values, norms, attitudes, habits and behaviour will thereby influence the possibilities to reach a sustainable development. The field of environmental psychology has knowledge about human factors that may facilitate respectively hinder the introduction of pro-environmental technology and design. The course will focus upon social aspects of a sustainable development. The aims of the course are to describe social hinders to technology and design, and to present strategies that may increase people’s concern for the environment and acceptance of innovations that support sustainable development.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

• be familiar with central theories in environmental psychology, describing human behaviour in relation to a sustainable development.

• be able to apply at least one of these theories in a real life situation.

• understand how different methods in environmental psychology can be used in order to examine human-environment interaction in relation to environmental conservation.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

• identify a real life problem of human impact on the environment, and describe this problem with empirical data according to given instructions.

• correctly apply at least one method in environmental psychology.

• based on lectures and literature suggest strategies from the field of environmental psychology that may facilitate the introduction of pro-environmental policy or technology.

• independently organize information from lectures, scientific literature and empirical data in a written report according to given criteria.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

• present and critical discuss the procedures, results and conclusions of a small empirical studies in environmental conservation psychology according to given criteria.

• independently present and critical discuss the own empirical work in environmental conservation psychology in relation to the information provided in lectures and literature according to given criteria.

Contents
“Environmental conservation psychology” focuses upon the social aspect of sustainable development. The course covers social-psychological factors behind individual person’s pro-environmental behaviour, human behaviour when facing limited resources, strategies to promote pro-environmental behaviour and methods to evaluate these strategies. The course includes lectures, literature studies and a series of three group exercises. The lectures describe the theories and gives examples from current research. The literature deepens the theoretical background. The exercises show the practical relevancy of theory and provide empirical experience of methods. The exercises are carried out in groups, and discussed at seminars. The exercises are also reported as an individually written as a report by the end of the course. This report will be the main ground for examination. The report shall cover information from literature, lecture and the empirical work.

Literature
Gardner, G.T. & Stern, P.C. (2002). Environmental problems and human behavior. Boston, Mass: Pearson Custom