Displaying 1 - 21 of 21
Extensive animal and recent human research have helped inform neuroendocrinological models of social cognition, motivation and behavior. In this review, we first summarize important findings regarding oxytocin, arginine vasopressin and testosterone in the domains of affiliation, social cognition, aggression and stress/anxiety. We then suggest ways in which human research can continue to profit from animal research, particularly by exploring the interactive nature of neuromodulatory effects at neurochemical, organismic and contextual levels. We further propose methods inspired by the animal literature for the ecologically valid assessment of affiliative behavior in humans. We conclude with suggestions for how human research could advance by directly assessing specific social cognitive and motivational mechanisms as intermediate variables. We advocate a more comprehensive look at the distinct networks identified by social neuroscience and the importance of a motivational state, in addition to approach and avoidance, associated with quiescence and homeostatic regulation.
Zotero Collections:
The article discusses the use of biophilic design strategies in the workplace to boost productivity, reduce stress and improve the cognitive abilities of employees. The biophilic design patterns identified by consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green are noted, including visual connection with nature, non-rhythmic sensory stimuli and access to thermal and air flow variability. The application of biophilic design to the manufacturing industry is also noted.
Explores the philosophical, psychological, and sociological roots of today's environmental movement, the human-centered assumptions behind most approaches to nature, and the possibilities of an expanded human consciousness. It also offers specific direct action suggestions for individuals to practice.
Explores the philosophical, psychological, and sociological roots of today's environmental movement, the human-centered assumptions behind most approaches to nature, and the possibilities of an expanded human consciousness. It also offers specific direct action suggestions for individuals to practice.
Explores the philosophical, psychological, and sociological roots of today's environmental movement, the human-centered assumptions behind most approaches to nature, and the possibilities of an expanded human consciousness. It also offers specific direct action suggestions for individuals to practice.
Human well-being is a complex concept that has been contested across the social and political sciences. This chapter considers three broad approaches to the concept and measurement of human well-being along with their respective merits from a cross-disciplinary perspective. The three broad approaches in question embrace utility (happiness, desire fulfillment, and preference), material well-being (most notably, income and resources), and “list-orientated” views (needs, rights, and capabilities). The final part of the chapter explicitly links human well-being with environmental issues and various notions of sustainable development. It is suggested that the idea of “sustainable human development” can help resolve the apparent tension between poverty reduction (involving more consumption) on the one hand and environmental conservation and sustainability on the other. Above all, a more comprehensive account of human well-being is required to bridge the gap between mental and physical states and to take note of the environmental and material basis of sustainable well-being.
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.That new planet is filled with new binds and traps. A changing world costs large sums to defend—think of the money that went to repair New Orleans, or the trillions it will take to transform our energy systems. But the endless economic growth that could underwrite such largesse depends on the stable planet we've managed to damage and degrade. We can't rely on old habits any longer.
Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance.
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we've waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way. Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth.That new planet is filled with new binds and traps. A changing world costs large sums to defend—think of the money that went to repair New Orleans, or the trillions it will take to transform our energy systems. But the endless economic growth that could underwrite such largesse depends on the stable planet we've managed to damage and degrade. We can't rely on old habits any longer.
Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance.
Modern environmentalism owes a great debt to philosopher, professor, and writer Arne Naess, cofounder of the Deep Ecology movement. Here, editors Alan Drengson and Bill Devall provide a comprehensive yet accessible volume of Naess’s most groundbreaking and seminal essays, which have remained influential among environmentalists to this day.Drawing from influences as diverse as Eastern religious practices, Gandhian nonviolent direct action, and Spinozan unity systems, Naess’s writing calls for cooperative action to protect the earth on which we dwell, encouraging individuals and communities to develop their own distinctive “ecosophies.”
These writings, full of Naess’s characteristic enthusiasm, wit, and spiritual fascination with nature, provide a look into the remarkable philosophical underpinnings of his own social and ecological activism, as well as an inspiration for all those looking to follow in his footsteps. This is an essential anthology from one of modern environmentalism’s most important and relevant voices.
Sustainable development is a contested concept, with theories shaped by people's and organizations' different worldviews, which in turn influence how issues are formulated and actions proposed. It is usually presented as the intersection between environment, society and economy, which are conceived of as separate although connected entities. We would argue that these are not unified entities: rather they are fractured and multi-layered and can be considered at different spatial levels. The economy is often given priority in policies and the environment is viewed as apart from humans. They are interconnected, with the economy dependent on society and the environment while human existence and society are dependent on, and within the environment. The separation of environment, society and economy often leads to a narrow techno-scientific approach, while issues to do with society that are most likely to challenge the present socio-economic structure are often marginalized, in particular the sustainability of communities and the maintenance of cultural diversity. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment
Zotero Collections:
Written by an ecopsychologist, this book explores the stages of modern human development and what these stages look like when we grow with nature and soul as our primary guides. It provides a model of human development that is nature-based and eco-centric. Bill Plotkin and his "Wheel of Life" model provides a means to support and quicken a transformational shift in one's worldview.
Addressing the pervasive longing for meaning and fulfillment in this time of crisis, Nature and the Human Soul introduces a visionary ecopsychology of human development that reveals how fully and creatively we can mature when soul and wild nature guide us. Depth psychologist and wilderness guide Bill Plotkin presents a model for a human life span rooted in the cycles and qualities of the natural world, a blueprint for individual development that ultimately yields a strategy for cultural transformation. If it is true, as Plotkin and others observe, that we live in a culture dominated by adolescent habits and desires, then the enduring societal changes we so desperately need won’t happen until we individually and collectively evolve into an engaged, authentic adulthood. With evocative language and personal stories, including those of elders Thomas Berry and Joanna Macy, this book defines eight stages of human life — Innocent, Explorer, Thespian, Wanderer, Soul Apprentice, Artisan, Master, and Sage — and describes the challenges and benefits of each. Plotkin offers a way of progressing from our current egocentric, aggressively competitive, consumer society to an ecocentric, soul-based one that is sustainable, cooperative, and compassionate. At once a primer on human development and a manifesto for change, Nature and the Human Soul fashions a template for a more mature, fulfilling, and purposeful life — and a better world.
To determine whether MBSR groups would help gay men living with HIV improve psychosocial functioning and increase mindfulness compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU). Methods: 117 participants were randomized 2:1 to MBSR or TAU. No new psychosocial or psychopharmacological interventions were initiated within 2 months of baseline. Standardized questionnaires were administered pre-, postintervention and at 6 months. An intent-to-treat analysis found significant benefits of MBSR: at post-intervention and 6 months follow up, MBSR participants had significantly lower avoidance in IES and higher positive affect compared to controls. MBSR participants developed more mindfulness as measured by the Toronto Mindfulness Scale (TMS) including both TMS subscales, curiosity and decentering, at 8-week and 6 months. For the sample as a whole, increase in mindfulness was significantly correlated with reduction in avoidance, higher positive affect and improvement in depression at 6 months. MBSR has specific and clinically meaningful effects in this population.
Since 1980, depth psychologist Bill Plotkin has been guiding women and men into the wilderness — not just the outer wilderness of redrock desert canyons and snow-crested mountain ranges of the American West — but, more to the point, into their inner wilderness, the wilds of the soul. He calls this work soulcraft.There is a great longing in each one of us — a longing to uncover the secrets and mysteries of our individual lives, to find the unique gift we were born to bring to our communities, and to experience our full membership in the more-than-human world. This journey to soul is a descent into layers of the self much deeper than personality, a journey quite distinct from the transcendence aspired to in many eastern spiritual disciplines. In the contemporary Western world, we live as if the spiritual descent is no longer necessary or with no awareness that such a journey is meant for each one of us, not just for the heroes and heroines of mythology.
Soulcraft is a modern handbook for the journey of descent: what it is, why it is necessary, how to recognize the call to descend, the necessary prelude and preparation to the descent, what the process of descending looks and feels like, and a set of nature-based practices to initiate and quicken the descent and to maximize its soul-making benefits.
A border crossing into mystery, Soulcraft is rooted in depth psychology, wilderness experience, and the poetic tradition. It is not an imitation of indigenous ways, but a contemporary nature-based approach born from the landscapes of the American wilderness, the traditions of Western culture, and the cross-cultural heritage of all humanity.
Filled with stories, poems, and guidelines, Soulcraft introduces over 40 practices that facilitate the descent to soul, including dreamwork, wilderness vision fasts, talking across the species boundaries, council, self-designed ceremony, nature-based shadow work, and the arts of romance, being lost, and storytelling.
In 1993, Bill and Melinda Gates took a walk on the beach and made a big decision: to give their Microsoft wealth back to society. In conversation with Chris Anderson, the couple talks about their work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as their marriage, their children, their failures and the satisfaction of giving most of their money away.
The aim of this prospective, randomized, controlled trial was to investigate the impact of yoga on newly diagnosed patients with early breast cancer in the immediate postoperative phase. 93 women newly diagnosed with early breast cancer were randomized into an intervention group (IG) and a control group (waiting group, WG). The IG started yoga immediately after the operation. The WG started yoga 5 weeks after surgery. Both groups attended yoga classes twice weekly for 5 weeks. Quality of life (QoL) was evaluated using the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires before the intervention, immediately after the operation and after 3 months. After 3 months the patients were asked whether yoga improved their physical activity and whether they wished to continue with yoga. The overall QoL (p = 0.002) and the functional status (p = 0.005) increased significantly in the IG, while physical symptoms decreased over time in both groups. 86 % of patients in the IG and only 59 % of patients in the WG (p = 0.04) confirmed a positive change in their physical activity through yoga. More women in the IG intended to continue with yoga (p = 0.03). Early initiation of yoga as a supportive treatment in cancer had a positive impact on QoL. Teaching yoga allowed patients to practice yoga by themselves, enhanced the patients' QoL and was found to improve physical activity.