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 INTRODUCTION TO INSTRUCTOR RESOURCES BibliographySyllabi |
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 History & Systems Research Methods Biopsychology Development Learning Cognition Motivation & Emotion Individual Differences Social Psychology Distress & Wellness Environmental Psych Ecopsychology Conservation Psych |
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Click on one of the links below or scroll down the page to see:Lecture/Discussion Topics
Class Activities
Multimedia Resources
Suggested Readings for StudentsReferences Cited in this Section
LECTURE/DISCUSSION TOPICS
CHILDREN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ANIMALSDevelopmental psychologists have largely neglected the study of children's relationship with animals even though animals are a primary focus in children's lives in a variety of forms: as live, stuffed, or imaginary companions; as captive or wild specimins; as zoo attractions; as targets of cruelty; as characters in books and on television; and as roles the children themselves assume (Melson, 2001, 2003; Myers, 1998; Myers & Saunders, 2002). In his book Children and animals: Social development and our connection to other species, Gene Myers (1998) described ways that the anthropocentric focus in child development has hindered theory and research on children's social, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive development. More recently, Gail Melson (2001) addressed this topic in her book, Why the Wild Things Are. Melson concurs with others who advocate a "biocentric" approach to the study of children's development (e.g., Kahn, 1999; Kahn & Kellert, 2002). She argues that a biocentric approach informed by the concept of "biophilia" (Kahn, 1997; Kellert, 1997; Kellert & Wilson, 1993; Wilson, 1984) would enlighten our understanding of children's love relationships, their comprehension of living systems (see next topic), their play, their fears, and their sense of self.
CHILDREN'S FOLKBIOLOGY AND NAIVE BIOLOGY"Folkbiology" is a term used to describe how laypersons intuitively perceive, categorize, and think about living things. In their edited volume on the topic, Douglas Medin and Scott Atran (1999) suggest that a deeper understanding of folkbiology will be useful as we work toward sustainability at a global level. Several chapters address folkbiology in relation to children; for example, Giyoo Hatano and Kayoko Inagaki discuss children's folkbiology and naive biology with a focus on taxonomic classification. More recently, Inagaki and Hatano (2004) reviewed research on their theory that children classify and explain biological phenomena as unique in terms of "'vitalistic causality," a form of construal in which the primary causal concept is "life force." Researchers have studied when and how children make distinctions between living and nonliving things-- and between plants, animals, and humans. They have also addressed the questions of whether the acquisition of folkbiological knowledge is a continuous developmental process or a discontinuous one in which a child's view of the world is replaced by a more sophisticated adult understanding (Coley, Soloman, & Shafto, 2002), and whether the acquisition of folkbiological knowledge occurs in the same way across cultures (e.g., Waxman, 2005). Research on children's folkbiology will not only broaden our understanding of cognitive development in general, but may also help us to better understand why and how adults' nonsustainable behaviors may be influenced by anthropocentric thinking and ignorance about ecology. See also Medin & Atran (2004).
CHILDREN'S MORAL REASONING ABOUT THE NATURAL WORLDRelated to the the topic of children's cognitive understanding of the natural world is the issue of how they value nature. Peter Kahn (1997, 2002; Kahn & Friedman, 1995) has conducted extensive cross-cultural interview research with children, young adults, and their parents, asking them about their environmental values and moral reasoning about environmental degradation. Throughout their research studies, Kahn and his colleagues have observed two primary forms of environmental moral reasoning in children: "anthropocentric" reasoning, in which concern stems from how effects on the environment affect humans (e.g., pesticide contamination is bad because it harms human health), and "biocentric" reasoning, in which the natural world is valued intrinsically (e.g., wildlife protection is good because all living things have the right to exist). Kahn (2002) describes what he calls "environmental generational amnesia," a phenomenon in which each successive generation perceives the natural context of its childhood experience as the norm against which to judge whether the environment is degraded or not. Kahn argues that apparent lack of environmental concern is not merely a function of complacency about environmental degradation, nor is it explainable simply in terms of the environment being a secondary priority relative to the immediacy of basic material needs; instead, Kahn suggests that each generation judges environmental conditions relative to their own experience. For example, Kahn found that children growing up in the heavily polluted city of Houston seemed unaware of the pollution around them, because for these children it was the normal condition. Kahn suggests that as environmental degradation increases, each generational cohort's standard for comparison also becomes more denuded, resulting in a decreasing sensitivity to the magnitude and scope of the environmental crisis.
CHILDREN'S PREFERENCE FOR NATURAL PLAY SETTINGSEnvironmental psychologists have studied place preferences in both adults and children. Like adults, children show preferences for natural settings and report that nature offers restoration and relief from stress (e.g., Korpela, 2002; Simmons, 1994; Wells & Evans, 2003). Research on children has also explored preferences for play settings. Several studies have demonstrated children's preference for natural settings, especially those that provide a sense of refuge (e.g., Kirkby, 1989; Moore, 1986a, 1986b). Refuges in the form of forts and dens in natural settings are beloved play spaces for many children, primarily because they represent areas under the children's control (Sobel, 2002). See Evans (2006) for a review of research on how characteristics of the environment-- including natural spaces-- affect children's development.
DEVELOPMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHILDREN'S EXPERIENCES IN NATUREThe past two decades have witnessed a dramatic change in how children in urban industrial cultures spend their leisure time. Children are becoming increasingly sedentary, spending much of their time indoors, planted in front of a computer, television, or videogame. Natural outdoor play spaces are being replaced by sprawling development. Parental fears about stranger abduction have increased to the point that kids' solitary exploration outside the home is often a forbidden activity. As a result, children's relationship with nature is becoming more mediated and more virtual, to the extent that some children have little to no actual experience with the animals, settings, etc. that they experience through their videogames or Omnitheater excursions. (How) does this unprecedented separation from the natural world impact children's development? This question has been asked by several scholars (e.g., Kellert, 2002; Louv, 2005; Nabhan & Trimble, 1994) and the general consensus is alarm. A recent contribution on the topic is child advocate Richard Louv's (2005) Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. “Nature-deficit disorder” is not a medically-recognized label and Louv is not a psychologist or psychiatrist; still, this book offers a highly accessible discussion of the negative effects associated with children’s increasing disconnect from nature, and Louv provides suggestions for how to overcome contemporary barriers to childrens’ connection with nature. In his section entitled, “Why the young (and the rest of us) need nature,” Louv describes some psychological and medical research on the health benefits of contact with nature, and then suggests that lack of contact with nature may be a factor in high rates of childhood obesity, overprescription of antidepressants to children, and the prevalence of Attention Deficit Disorder. He laments children’s sensory disconnect from nature, which he attributes to a culture characterized by climate controlled interior spaces, electronic technological distractions, and the substitution of Internet-based knowledge for first-hand experience. He discusses psychologist Howard Gardner’s idea of a “naturalist intelligence” and describes research on how creativity in children’s play is facilitated by natural settings. (For more on children's play in natural settings, see Sobel, 1993). After delineating several barriers to children’s nature connection (e.g., fear of bad strangers in the wood, lack of education about nature), he provides suggestions and inspiration for parents and educators who would like to mend the disconnect. Louv's book could serve as a good starting point for a discussion with students about how researchers might explore the idea of "nature-deficit disorder."
LIVING (AND DEVELOPING) IN A MATERIAL WORLDA major contributor to the environmental crisis is material consumption in industrial cultures. A large share of today's commercial advertising is aimed directly at children--and the form this advertising takes is informed by sophisticated knowledge about children's social, emotional, and cognitive development (Levin & Linn, 2003). How does being socially defined as "consumers" affect children's development? Are they taught by commercial marketing to express their identities through material possessions? (LaPoint & Hambrick-Dixon, 2003). Ahuvia & Wong (2002) studied materialism in more than 280 college student in the Midwestern U.S. and found correlational evidence in support of the idea that a materialistic orientation may develop as a result of an economically deprived childhood.
NATURE AND THE RITUAL TRANSITION THROUGH ADOLESCENCERituals associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood are common in ancestral and contemporary indigenous cultures. In his 1982 book Nature and Madness, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Human Ecology, Paul Shepard, presented his thesis that in contemporary urban industrial cultures, humans do not become as mature as they potentially can be. He suggests that human ontogeny (development of the individual) evolved in a context in which life was characterized by connection to nature and everyday experience was inextricable from the larger rhythms and patterns of the natural world. Shepard claims that the contemporary society begins breaking down this grounded sense of self in childhood and fails to nurture a nature-connected trajectory of growth and development in its members. In Shepard's words,
Shepard attributes the ecological crisis to the immaturity of the adults who are causing it. He laments the absence of nature-connected ritualistic transitions through developmental stages that are typical in cultures living sustainably in harmony with their ecological context. See the film "Lost Borders: Coming of Age in the Wilderness" (see below) for more on this topic.
IMPACT OF LIFE EXPERIENCES ON ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONWithin the context of technologically sophisticated, urban-industrial cultures, some individuals choose to express their proenvironmental attitudes in significantly life-changing ways, opting for alternative lifestyles and/or dedicating their lives to environmental activism. What factors lead lives in this direction? Environmental educators and others have suggested that at least one important influence is significant life experience related to the natural world. For example, Louise Chawla (1998, 1999) interviewed more than 50 environmentalists in Norway and Kentucky about their motivations; the two most frequently mentioned influences (each mentioned by 77% of the sample) were positive experiences in nature during childhood and adolescence, and family members who modeled respect for nature. Wendy Horowitz (1996) adopted a lifespan development perspective when she inteviewed a smaller sample of 29 environmental activists. These individuals reported that their nature-connectedness typically began in childhood, that their environmental concern developed as a result of experiences with nature and modeling by influential others in and outside of their families, and that the development of their environmental ethic was tied to identity and generativity issues. Finger (1994) surveyed more than 1700 Swiss individuals and found that although knowledge about environmental issues did not significantly predict environmental behaviors (other than activism), direct life experience with the natural environment did. Ewert, Place, and Sibthorp (2005) conducted a regression analysis on the environmental attitudes of a sample of more than 500 undergraduates and found that only certain forms of early life outdoor experience predicted ecocentric-anthropocentric beliefs. These studies and others suggest that environmentally oriented adults tend to have personal histories that include recreational time spent in wild places, but having childhood play experiences in natural settings does not necessarily lead to proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors in adulthood (Bixler, Floyd, & Hammitt, 2002).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
INTERVIEWING CHILDREN ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTGene Myers uses community-based learning activities that pair individual college students with individual schoolchildren from the local community. Students conduct a series of sessions to explore how children conceptualize their ecological environment.
(contributed by Gene Myers)
NATURE AUTOBIOGRAPHY/SIGNIFICANT LIFE EXPERIENCE ESSAYAs described above, researchers have found that significant childhood experience with nature is common in the autobiographies of adult environmental advocates; however, having had such experiences does not necessarily lead to adult environmental concern. The objective of this activity is to have students reflect on how their childhood experiences may or may not be related to their adult relationship with the natural environment. Ask students to look back at the role of nature in their childhoods by presenting them with the following probes:
Have students write a paper about their autobiographical memories and analysis of them. Help them to digest and think of their personal experiences in cultural and historical context (e.g., by having students read some environmental history or consulting sources such as "Why we think nature is beautiful" at http://www.cep.unt.edu/show/). Students can then discuss how universal, conditional, or idiosyncratic they think our relationships with nature are. (See also Jurin & Hutchinson, 2005, for a description of a related activity in an environmental history course.) Based on anecdotes from instructors who have done an activity like this one, it is likely that facination with nonhuman nature will figure prominently in students' autobiographical reflections in response to the first two probes (even if these are initially presented in class without any priming about "nature"). Students frequently mention books that involve wilderness survival (e.g., Island of the Blue Dolphins, Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain) and simple living close to nature (e.g., The Boxcar Children, Little House on the Prairie). They fondly recollect exploring the woods, building forts, collecting bugs, etc. Students tend to find this a worthwhile and enlightening exercise. (Contributed by Gene Myers, Joanne Vining, and Britain Scott).
INTERVIEW SIGNIFICANT OTHER ABOUT NATURE CONNECTIONSThis exercise is a variation of the one above and involves interviewing a significant other in the lives of the students (parent, grandparent, etc.) to chart the fabric of the quality and significance of that individual's nature-based encounters showing how their experiences in/with nature have shaped his or her person. (contributed by Sylvie Shaw)
FUN WITH FURBYFurby is one of the first "emoto-tronic" animal-like toys, introduced in 1998. Furby looks like a cross between a furry mammal and a bird. He speaks "Furbish" and English. He responds to a limited number of voice commands (e.g., "Hey Furby, show me a dance"). When he is asked to tell a story, he talks about his island of origin which has "many rocks, trees, and water" and is "beautiful." Furby spontaneously announces, "I LOVE you!" He purrs when his back is petted and giggles when his tummy is tickled. An updated Furby model was introduced in 2005, but the toys are no longer sold at retail stores. They can be found on the second-hand market. If an instructor has access to a Furby, it is an interesting exercise to bring it into the classroom, let the college age students interact with it for awhile, and then ask them to reflect upon the following questions:
Alternatively, the instructor could have a child or group of children interact with Furby with the college students watching, and then discuss Furby's impact (after the kids leave).
THE LORAX AND THE WUMPSDevelopmental psychologists study children's literature for a variety of reasons, but until recently researchers have not paid much attention to the pervasiveness of nonhuman nature in children's books (Melson, 2001). One recent exception is Krueger and Krueger (2005) who discuss what significance children's books about animals, and the illustrations in the books, may have for the children, and for the adults who read the books aloud. Adopting a psychodynamic perspective, these authors suggest that animals in children's books serve primarily as anthropomorphized projections of the children's own instinctual drives, rather than as examples of children's connection to nonhuman nature as it is. A subset of children's literature about nonhuman nature focuses on conservation themes. Two classic examples are Dr. Seuss's (1971) The Lorax and Bill Peet's (1974) The Wump World. These books are similar in that both include familiar but unreal animals (i.e., Wumps resemble moose minus the antlers and the Swomee Swans and Brown Barbaloots in The Lorax aren't real varieties of birds and bears). Both books contain strong themes against industrial pollution and overuse of natural resources. In historical perspective, these books are noteworthy because they represent the first attempts to reach out to children with environmental messages post-Earth Day 1970. A fun class activity is to read one or both of these books aloud (in the instructor's best animated library-story-hour style). After reading the book, break students into small groups of 3 or 4 and ask them to discuss any memories they have of the book from childhood, their reactions to hearing the story as adults, and their ideas about whether and how the book might affect the environmental attitudes and behaviors of children at different stages of cognitive development. After students have discussed their own ideas about the use of the Lorax in environmental education for children, the instructor can bring in the perspectives of environmental educators (Pleasants, 2005) and school teachers (Henderson, Kennedy, & Chamberlain, 2004) who have questioned the effectiveness of this book as an environmental education tool.
MULTIMEDIA RESOURCESFILM: Listening to Children: A Moral Journal with Robert Coles (VHS, PBS HomeVideo)In this video, Pulitzer-prize winning author and child psychiatrist Robert Coles profiles eight children facing moral issues related to modern life (e.g., racism, family breakdown). Although this film does not directly address morality related to the natural environment, it is a useful tool for preparing students to consider children's moral development and to communicate with children about their worldviews. (contributed by Gene Myers)
WEBSITE: Readings on Development of Environmental ResponsiblityGene Myers, at the Huxley College of the Environment, has compiled an extensive supplemental reading list for his students on topics related to the "Development of Environmental Responsiblity" website compiled by Gene Myers at Huxley College of the Environment. The list can be found here.
FILM: Lost Borders: Coming of Age in the Wilderness (Short Version, 1998)This hour-long documentary profiles a ten-day ritual transition from adolescence to adulthood that takes the form of a vision quest in the mountains of California. A study guide is available from Bullfrog Films.
SUGGESTED READINGS FOR STUDENTSLouv, R. (2005). "Why the young (and the rest of us) need nature." Last child in the woods: Saving
Melson, G. (2003). Child development and the human-companion animal bond. American Behavioral
Selections from Kahn, P. H., Jr. & Kellert, S. R. (2002). Children and nature: Psychological,
REFERENCES CITED IN THIS SECTIONAhuvia, A., & Wong, N. Y. (2002). Personality and values based materialism: Their relationship and
Bixler, R. D., Floyd, M. F., & Hammitt, W. E. (2002). Environmental socialization: Quantitative tests of
Bryant, B. (1985). The neighborhood walk: Sources of support in middle childhood.
Chawla, L. (1998). Significant life experiences revisited: A review of research on sources of
Chawla, L. (1999). Life paths into effective environmental action. Journal of Environmental
Coley, J. D., Solomon, G. E. A., & Shafto, P. (2002). The development of folkbiology: A cognitive
Evans, G. (2006). Child development and the physical environment. Annual Review of Psychology,
Ewert, A., Place, G., & Sibthorp, J. (2005). Early-life outdoor experiences and an
Finger, M. (1994). From knowledge to action? Exploring the relationships between environmental
Hart, R. (1979). Children's experience of place. New York: Irvington. Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1999). A developmental perspective on informal biology. In D. L. Medin &
Henderson, B., Kennedy, M. & Chamberlain, C. (2004). Playing seriously with Dr. Suess: A
Horowitz, W. (1996). Developmental origins of environmental ethics: The life experiences of activists.
Inagaki, K., & Hatano, G. (2004). Vitalistic causality in young children's naive biology. Trends in
Jurin, R. R., & Hutchinson, S. (2005). Worldviews in transition: Using ecological autobiographies to
Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1997). Developmental psychology and the biophilia hypothesis: Children's affiliation
Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The human relationship with nature: Development and culture. Cambridge,
Kahn, P. H., Jr. (2002). Children's affiliation with nature: Structure, development, and the problem of
Kahn, P. H., & Friedman, B. (1995). Environmental views and values of children in an inner-city Black
Kahn, P. H., Jr., & Kellert, S. R. (Eds.) (2002). Children and nature: Psychological, sociocultural, and
Kellert, S. R. (1997). Kinship to mastery: Biophilia in human evolution and development.
Kellert, S. R. (2002) Experiencing nature: Affective, cognitive, and evaluative development in
Kellert, S. R. & Wilson, E. O. (Eds.) (1993). The biophilia hypothesis. Washingon, DC: Island
Kirkby, M. (1989). Nature as refuge in children's environments. Children's Environments Quarterly,
Korpela, K. (2002). Children's environments. In R. B. Bechtel & A. Churchman (Eds.), Handbook of
Krueger, D. W., & Krueger, L. N. (2005). Animals in children's stories. In S. Akhtar & V. Volkan
LaPoint, V. D., & Hambrick-Dixon, P. J. (2003). Commercialism's influence on Black youth: The case
Leach, J., Driver, R., Scott, C., & Wood-Robinson, C. (1995). Children's ideas about ecology (1):
Leeming, F. C., Dwyer, W. O., & Bracken, B. A. (1995). Children's environmental attitude and
Levin, D. E., & Linn, S. (2003). The commercialization of childhood: Understanding the problem and
Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel
Medin, D. L., & Atran, S. (Eds.) (1999). Folkbiology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Medin, D. L., & Atran, S. (2004). The native mind: Biological categorization and reasoning in
Melson, G. F. (2001). Why the wild things are: Animals in the lives of children. Cambridge, MA:
Melson, G. F. (2003). Child development and the human-companion animal bond.
Moore, R. C. (1986a). Childhood's domain. London: Croom-Helm. Moore, R. C. (1986b). The power of nature orientations of girls and boys toward biotic and abiotic
Musser, L. M., & Diamond, K. E. (1999). The children's attitudes toward the environment scale for
Musser, L. M., & Malkus, A. J. (1994). The Children’s Attitudes Toward the Environment scale.
Myers, O. E. (1998). Children and animals: Social development and our connection to other species.
Myers, O. E., & Saunders, C. D. (2002). Animals as links toward developing caring relationships with
Nabhan, G. P., & Trimble, S. (1994). The geography of childhood: Why children need wild places.
Peet, B. (1974). The wump world. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Pleasants, K. (2005). Does environmental education need a Thneed? Displacing The Lorax as
Shepard, P. (1982). Nature and madness. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. Simmons, D. A. (1994). Urban children's preferences for nature: Lessons for environmental
Sobel, D. (2002). Children's special places: Exploring the role of forts, dens, and bush houses in
Seuss, Dr. (1971). The lorax. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers. Waxman, S. (2005). Why is the concept "living thing" so elusive? Concepts, languages, and the
Wells, N. M., & Evans, G. W. (2003). Nearby nature: A buffer of life stress among rural children.
Wilson, E. O. (1984). Biophilia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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