Page 88 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

6 Psychological Aspects of Sustainability Communication 71

perception and evaluation of underlying problems being of special relevance.
An important catalyst for the conception and dissemination of the principle of
sustainable development has been the growing recognition of and concern about
the anthropogenic nature of environmental changes, which are based on non-
sustainable or ‘maladaptive’ behaviours of humans towards life-supporting nat-
ural resources. The development of an adequate concept of sustainable
development requires that humans be seen in their triple role: as causal agents,
as victims and – most importantly – as change agents. The requirements for
developing the learning processes and competencies of people (as individuals as
well as members of groups and social collectives) are considerable, while the
structures and processes of human-environment interactions show characteristics
that compound the difficulties of learning such competencies (Pawlik 1991;
Kruse 1995; Lantermann 2000):
• People lack the requisite sense organs for detecting many environmental condi-
tions and changes, e.g. the ozone hole or radioactive fallout cannot be seen,
heard, or smelt. Other changes are so minimal or gradual that they fall below the
threshold of ‘just noticeable differences’.
• Some human activities have immediate and direct effects on the environ-
ment, while others have delayed effects that may not immediately be seen as
direct causes of environmental change. In addition to the time lag between
interference and effect, there is a spatial factor that must be considered. For
example, the CFC emissions of industrialized nations in the North first devel-
oped their harmful effects (depletion of the ozone layer) in the southern
hemisphere. This temporal and spatial distance is often accompanied by a
social distance between those causing and those affected by environmental
deterioration or hazards. The inhabitants of wealthy countries, where pollution
often originates, may not realize its effects on a highly vulnerable population
in emerging countries, which has few resources to cope with the damages.
With global environmental problems it is essential to consider both long-term
and long-distance effects.
• Other cognitions come into play when individual effects are very small. This
holds true not only for harmful activities but also for many positive behavioural
contributions as well (e.g. reduced driving of a private car). Small damages to the
environment or improvements are seen as a ‘drop in the bucket’ and the growing
‘stream’ accumulating over time is overlooked, as is the dissemination of new
behaviour patterns to larger groups.
• In general high complexity, network structures, high dynamics and the
non-transparency of human-environment interactions, together with long
time horizons and multiply interrelated systems (Dörner 1989) present
extreme difficulties for human cognitive abilities. In addition, one has to
take into account the restricted or generally unpredictable nature of global
developments, which require action under conditions of uncertainty and the
development of entirely new decision-making processes and responsibilities
(Lantermann 2000).