Construcciones de la psicología al abordaje de la dimensión humana del cambio climático en Chile (Segunda parte) / Psychology´s contributions to address the human dimensions of climate change in Chile (Second part)

En la primera parte de este trabajo se presentó una revisión bibliográfica sobre el estudio de la dimensión humana del cambio climático, organizado en cuatro grandes ejes de investigación: la comunicación del cambio climático, el estudio de creencias, actitudes, valores y conductas relacionadas con el problema, la identificación de facilitadores y barreras psicológicas para la implementación de prácticas de mitigación y la adaptación y los impactos del cambio climático en la salud mental. En esta segunda parte se informan avances en esta área en el contexto latinoamericano, para posteriormente identificar aquellos ámbitos en los que la Psicología puede contribuir tanto en los planes para el cambio climático como en estudios de caso desarrollados en Chile. Como resultado se proponen cuatro áreas prioritarias: (1) creencias, actitudes, valores y conductas (2) educación y sensibilización, (3) participación ciudadana y (4) salud mental y bienestar social. La investigaciónen estos ejes puede contribuir al desarrollo de estrategias, políticas y planes más efectivos al profundizar en la dimensión humana del cambio climático en el particular contexto de Chile.

Multiple studies show that the integration of social and psychological factors in the design, implementation and evaluation of mitigation and adaptation strategies is paramount to address the complexities of climate change. Such factors influence both the perception of the problem and the responses to it in every social system. Considering a multiple level approach that considers institutional, communitarian and personal dimensions the inclusion of these psychological aspects can help to increase the importance of climate change in society, favor a deeper community engagement, improving public policies, and strengthen individual, social and institutional resilience. Although Chile is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world regarding climate change impacts, presenting seven out of nine vulnerability criteria, the study of the social and psychological dimensions of climate change in our country is limited and its importance for policy-making generally unknown. In such a context we organized a literature review aimed at exploring how Psychology can contribute to address the human dimensions of climate change in Chile considering a wide range of topics. To do this a reasonable high number of specialized data -bases and scientific journals were used. As a result of this work we expect to encourage scholars from diverse disciplines, not only psychologists, to digdeeper on these issues in the Chilean and Latin American context to fill this gap in the knowledge. The literature review showed that most research has been conducted in developed countries such as United States, Australia and United Kingdom. This is expected considering the high levels of political polarization about climate change in those countries, either regarding the causes of the problem, the actions needed to address it, or even if it is happening or not. Contrariwise, we only found a reduced number of articles addressing specifically the psychological aspects of climate change in both Latin America and Chile. Interestingly, mainly scholars from other disciplines generally related to environmental management, planning, Sociology and other social sciences, rather than psychologists, have conducted those studies in the region, most of them focused on issues such as social vulnerability, inequalities, poverty alleviation, political participation and agriculture in rural and indigenous communities in the context of droughts or water management related issues. Results of this review are presented in two articles covering five main topics reflecting the most relevant issues identified in the interaction between psychological factors and climate change in the literature. This Second part follows the literature review presented in a previous article (First part). It starts with climate change related topics that are particularly relevant to Latino America mainly associated with social and environmental vulnerability and participation. Then we present an analysis of national and sectorial climate change plans developed in Chile during the last decade to identify the social and psychological aspects that need to be addressed in each of them. Similarly, multiple case studies conducted in Chile are presented to illustrate the importance of these issues. As a result, we propose a framework to organize and encourage research in this area and to integrate this knowledge in policy-making. Four general research topics are suggested: beliefs, values and attitudes; education and climate change awareness; citizen participation; and mental health and social wellbeing. Overall, this review suggests that Psychology's contributions to address climate change challenges will improve our understanding of the complex relationship between people and nature in general and society and climate change in particular. However, to have a significant impact in policy-making, psychological studies need to be part of wider multidisciplinary teams and work at multiple levels, especially close to communities and public institutions avoiding an excessive experimentalism and academicism preventing isolation from society.

Contribuciones de la Psicología al abordaje de la dimensión humana del cambio climático en Chile (Primera parte) / Psychology's contributions to address the human dimensions of climate chamge in Chile (First part)

Múltiples estudios señalan que para abordar integralmente la problemática del cambio climático es fundamental incorporar factores psicológicos y sociales en el diseño, implementación y evaluación de estrategias de mitigación y adaptación. Estos factores resultan claves para incrementar la importancia del cambio climático en la agenda pública, favorecer un mayor involucramiento ciudadano y fortalecer la resiliencia individual, social e institucional, así como el impacto de las políticas. No obstante, en Chile el estudio de los aspectos psicológicos del cambio climático es muy limitado. Por su extensión este trabajo se presenta en dos partes. En esta primera parte se presenta una revisión bibliográfica que explora los principales ámbitos del cambio climático en los que la Psicología puede contribuir para comprender las complejidades del problema. Esto se organiza en cuatro grandes ejes: (1) la comunicación del cambio climático, (2) el estudio de creencias, actitudes, valores y conductas relacionadas con el problema, (3) la identificación de facilitadores y barreras psicológicas para la implementación de prácticas de mitigación y adaptación y (4) los impactos del cambio climático en la salud mental. Estos ejes constituyen un marco de referencia para el posterior desarrollo de ámbitos de acción que se apliquen específicamente al contexto chileno.

Multiple studies show that the integration of social and psychological factors in the design, implementation and evaluation of mitigation and adaptation strategies is paramount to address the complexities of climate change. Such factors influence both the perception of the problem and the responses to it in every social system. Considering a multi-level approach encompassing institutional, communitarian and personal dimensions, the inclusion of these psychological aspects can help to increase the importance of climate change in society, favor a deeper community engagement, improving public policies, and strengthen individual, social and institutional resilience. Although Chile is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world regarding climate change impacts, presenting seven out of nine vulnerability criteria, the study of the social and psychological dimensions of climate change in our country is limited and its importance for policy-making generally unknown. In such a context we organized a literature review aimed at exploring how Psychology can contribute to address the human dimensions of climate change in Chile considering a wide range of topics. To do this a reasonable high number of specialized databases and scientific journals were used. As a result of this work we expect to encourage scholars from diverse disciplines, not only psychologist, to dig deeper on these issues in the Chile an and Latin American context to fill this gap in the knowledge. The literature review showed that most research has been conducted in developed countries such as United States, Australia, and United Kingdom. This is expected considering the high levels of political polarization about climate change in those countries, either regarding the causes of the problem, the actions needed to address it, or even if it is happening or not. Contrariwise, we only found a reduced number of articles addressing specifically the psychological aspects of climate change in both Latin America and Chile. Interestingly, mainly scholars from other disciplines generally related to environmental management, planning, Sociology and other social sciences, rather than psychologists, have conducted those studies in the region, most of them focused on issues such as social vulnerability, inequalities, poverty alleviation, political participation and agriculture in rural and indigenous communities in the context of droughts or water management related issues. Results of this review are presented in two parts covering five main topics reflecting the most relevant issues identified in the interaction between psychological factors and climate change in the literature. Part one presents a short introduction on climate change impacts in Chile and the high level of vulnerability of our country given by geographic, environmental and social factors. Then we explain the link between Psychology and environmental problems in general, describing the main issues covered by two specialized sub disciplines called Environmental Psychology and Conservation Psychology. After that we present four sections summarizing the main findings of the literature review. These include the complexities of climate change communication; beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors; psychological drivers and barriers for climate change action; and the emergent study of the impacts of climate change and mental health. This sets the basis for a framework to organize and encourage research in this area and to integrate this knowledge in policy-making in the Chilean context. Overall, this review suggests that psychology's contributions to address climate change challenges will improve our understanding of the complex relationship between people and nature in general and society and climate change in particular. However, to have a significant impact in policy-making, psychological studies need to be part of wider multidisciplinary teams and work at multiple levels, specially close to communities and public institutions avoiding an excessive experimentalism and academicism preventing isolation from society.

ESPECIFICACIÓN DE UN MODELO DE HIPERMETROPÍA SOCIOPOLÍTICA / SPECIFICATION OF A SOCIOPOLITICAL HYPEROPIA MODEL

El proceso que consiste en asegurar que los desastres naturales y catástrofes ecológicas lejanas no están vinculados con la situación personal, o bien, las problemáticas locales no son de tal magnitud que supongan una acción conservacionista, es conocido como hipermetropía ambiental. En este sentido, el presente trabajo se propone especificar un modelo para el estudio de este sesgo perceptual que explica la relación entre naturaleza y humanidad. Para tales fines, se llevó a cabo un estudio documental en las bases de datos de RADALYC, LATINDEX y DIALNET durante el periodo que va de 2010 a 2014 en artículos con registro ISSN y DOI relativos a la hipermetropía ambiental. El modelo especificado incluye ocho dimensiones alusivas al sesgo perceptual con respecto al abastecimiento de agua local y residencial. En referencia al estado del conocimiento, la especificación fue contrastada a fin de poder anticipar escenarios de análisis, estructuras perceptuales, toma de decisiones y comportamientos en función de la disponibilidad de agua y las necesidades/expectativas de consumo locales.

The process consisting in ensuring that natural disasters and distant environmental catastrophes are not linked to the personal situation, or local issues are not of such magnitude thay they involve a conservation action, is known as environmental hyperopia. In this sense, the present article aims to specify a model for the study of this perceptual bias that explains the relationship between nature and humanity. To that end, a documental study was carried on RADALYC, DIALNET and LATINDEX databases during the period 2010 to 2014 in Articles with ISSN and DOI record concerning environmental hyperopia. The model specified includes eight dimensions referring the perceptual bias with respect to local and residential water supply. In reference to the state of knowledge, the specification was proven to be able to anticipate analysis scenarios, perceptual structures, decision-making and behavior in terms of water availability and the needs / expectations of local consumption.