Psychological factors further increase risk of future ill-health and premature mortality [REFS]. According to social identity theory \cite{2018} people conform to the norms of the group to which they identify as it is expected that others in the group share similar views and opinions of the world, particularly those most representative of themselves. Therefore, the actions and thoughts of the group become the reference point for personal conduct. If the thoughts and actions of the group are positive, an individual of that group will experience those same positive thoughts and actions. For instance, peer modelling has proven to be an effective intervention to increase fruit and vegetable intake (Horne et al., 2009; Thordike, Riis, & Levy, 2016), although only when modelled by someone that shares the same group identity as the individual (Cruwus et al., 2012). By contrast, if an individual was to identify as a group member with a group whose health behaviours are risky, they are more likely to participate in those negative health behaviours. For example, research on 3300 young adults found that among a group in which smoking was the norm, there was a strength-dependent relationship between how strongly an individual identified with the group and their smoking status. However, the more group identities an individual has, the less likely they are to engage in negative health behaviours, such as cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and use of illicit drugs (Miller, Wakefield, & Sani, 2016).
XXX A number of hypotheses have been proposed XXX These include the meaning hypothesis, which argues sharing a social identity with others brings meaning, purpose and worth to an individual’s life. The support hypothesis proposes that people receive support from those they share a social identity with. The agency hypothesis suggests a social identity brings a sense of efficacy, agency and power to an individual’s life. Among many other hypotheses, these are useful to highlight the importance of social connections with others in terms of the identity they help develop and the pathways through which a poor social network impacts on health.
INTEGRATE: A good example of the physiological effects of social engagement is presented by Muller and Lindenberger (2011). Among choir members, cardiac and respiratory patterns synchronised with this effect being stronger when the members sang in unison as opposed to solo. The term “physiological linkage” has been coined to describe this process \citep*{Timmons2015}. The emotional context in which the physiological linkage occurs is important, for example negative effects have reported when the sympathetic nervous system or HPA axis synchronises between individuals as this results in reduced relationship satisfaction \citep{Timmons2015}.
Community is important for individual health and wellbeing as it provides the environment in which individual health and wellbeing may be achieved. A supportive community will therefore contribute to the health and wellbeing of individuals within that community. And this relationship will be a bidirectional one such that improved health and wellbeing of individuals will foster community health and wellbeing. Scholars have emphasised \cite{Berkes_2013} for example, that community resilience is underpinned by the individuals within it, highlighting the role of individual wellbeing including a positive outlook and individual strengths, which underpin a community's capacity for resilience. Community resilience is a social-ecological system, nested within different levels of a complex system - the 'symbioment' (see fig \ref{881013}) - which is (perhaps over-) simplified in the present paper to the level of the individual, community and the environment. XXX
Focus on the Environment
Here we focus on contributions from the wider environment to individual wellbeing, and consider how different approaches to enhancing wellbeing may have beneficial or adverse impacts on the environment. Relevant concepts include 'sustainable wellbeing' [REF], 'solastalgia' [REF], 'psychoterratica' [REF], 'social ecology' [REF], 'climate change' [REF], 'human rights' [REF], 'equality' [REF], and the “positive psychology of sustainability” [REF] amongst others.
Psychological science has been criticised for a blinkered focus on the
individual, while ignoring wider, systemic issues issues \cite{Carlisle_2009,Frawley_2015}. The ‘happiness
industry’ has been described as egocentric, narcissistic, and neoliberal
socialism in which “sharing is preferable to selling as long as it
doesn’t interfere with the financial interests of dominant
corporations” corporations” \cite{davies2015}. . Similar criticism has been made of the construct of wellbeing, which has
been argued to be a socio-cultural construction of western individualism
that places importance on wealth, fame and materialistic pursuits, while
neglecting and disregarding our shared environment environment \cite{Carlisle_2009}. These criticisms in
combination with the ever-increasing body of peer-reviewed literature on
‘happiness’ and ‘wellbeing’ were, in part, reason for proposing the
original GENIAL framework framework \cite{Kemp_2017}, which extended theoretical frameworks of
individual wellbeing to community wellbeing, and motivated us to
consider how this framework might relate to one of the greatest
challenges faced by mankind today: climate change. While we use the term
‘environment’ in a very general sense, encompassing the
biosphere (natural environment), the human-built environment,
sociostructural and cultural factors, in this section we focus specifically on the associations between individual wellbeing and
climate change, unless otherwise indicated.
Human beings have a strong, innate affiliation with the biological
world, a phenomenon captured by the ‘biophilia hypothesis’ and exposure
to nature can lead to transcendent emotions including peak experience \cite{1964} and
psychological flow \cite{Csikszentmihalyi_2014}. These experiences have been described as
the sublime emotion towards nature, encompassing the experience of awe
and inspiring energy, that may promote environmentalist commitment commitment \cite{Bethelmy_2019}. Awe
is a positive, transcendent emotion characterised by widened eyes and a
dropped jaw in combination with physical sensations such as ‘goosebumps’
and the ‘chills’ ‘chills’ \cite{Keltner_2003,Yaden_2018}. In a study of reported emotional experience based on
2,185 emotionally evocative videos videos \cite{Cowen_2017}, awe was observed to be one of 27
distinct varieties of emotions. The authors further observed that
specific emotional experiences formed smooth transitions between
distinct varieties of distinct experiences. So for instance, a smooth
gradient was observed between calmness, aesthetic appreciation of beauty
and awe leading the authors to suggest that the boundaries between
different emotions are fuzzy. Other research has reported that exposure
to nature is associated with with a reduction in stress \cite{Hansmann_2007}\cite{Ulrich_1991}, feelings of restoration restoration \cite{White_2013,Wyles_2017}, subjective wellbeing \cite{Johansson_2011,LUCK_2011,White_2017}, improved cognitive functioning \cite{Berman_2008,Berto_2005} and stronger
connectedness with others as well as the natural environment \cite{Mayer_2008,Richardson_2016}.
The ‘biophilia hypothesis’ has recently been broadened to encompass
non-living, physical elements, emphasising human affiliation with the
local environment (‘place’) and a role for cultural experience \cite{Beery_2015,s2012}. This
‘tropophilia hypothesis’ argues that human beings have a “genetically
based drive for exploring the local environment combined with imprinting
of the experienced conditions… [that] improve the chances of
the individual to survive and reproduce” reproduce” \cite{Beery_2015}. It is now widely accepted in
scientific circles \cite{change2007,change2014} that humanity will face catastrophic
climate change should we fail to commit to climate action. The biophilia and The biophilia and tropophilia hypotheses hypotheses provide a foundation on which to understand the distress,
pain or sickness that has been reported with environmental change of
home or territory, a phenomenon known as ‘solastalgia’ \cite{ALBRECHT,2019,Albrecht_2007}. Glenn Albrecht,
an Australian environmental philosopher coined the term ‘solastalgia’
after reflecting on the environmental impacts of open cut coal mining
and pollution of local power stations on the residents of the Upper
Hunter Region of NSW in Australia. He writes that ‘solastalgia’ reflects
a “specific form of melancholia connected to a lack of solace and
intense desolation” associated with place-based distress \cite{albrecht2005a}. Mental
distress and psychiatric disorders may also arise from the direct
effects of climate-related disasters as well as the indirect effects of
such events (e.g. disruption to food supply and damage to community
wellbeing) \cite{Berry_2009,Hayes_2018}. In fact, the number of people experiencing psychological
trauma exceeds those with physical injury by 40–1 \cite{j2007}, and weather related disasters have increased by
44% since the year 2000 \cite{Watts_2018}. Critically, there is now strong evidence to
conclude that we humans are contributing to such change, a phenomenon
known as anthropogeneic climate change. Research reporting on ratings of
peer-reviewed climate-science and self-ratings by climate change
scientists themselves has indicated that there is 97% endorsement of
humans contribution to the warming climate \cite{Cook_2013}. Unfortunately, this finding
remains under appreciated in a brave new world of alternative facts and
disinformation \cite{Lewandowsky_2013,Lewandowsky_2017}.
In our original GENIAL model \cite{Kemp_2017}, we described an important role for
positive social ties and community on health and wellbeing.
Interestingly, others \cite{Beery_2015,Nurse_2010} have argued that the boundaries of ‘community’
should be extended to the environment including soil, water, plants and
animals, in order to facilitate love and respect, and a commitment to
environmental sustainability. Interestingly, feelings of guilt, shame,
fear, emotional discomfort and solastalgia have been associated with
motivation to engage in environmental sustainability behaviours \cite{Albrecht_2007,DICKERSON_1992,Kaiser_2008,Malott_2010}. Others
have proposed an ‘aesthetics of elsewhere’, which involves encouraging a
double aesthetic judgment of ‘here’ and ‘elsewhere’ to induce an
aesthetic melancholia to influence consumption decisions \cite{maskit2011}. By contrast, others have argued
for a positive psychology of sustainability \cite{Corral_Verdugo_2014,Corral_Verdugo_2012,obrien2016}, a strategy that may
help to foster what has been described as sustainable wellbeing \cite{Kjell_2011}. In a
study on 606 undergraduate students in Mexico \cite{fraijo-sing2011}, researchers reported
that pro-ecological, altruistic, frugal and equitable behaviors reflect
the behaviours of a sustainably-oriented person, and that these
sustainable behaviours have positive psychological consequences. Prior
research had shown that individuals engaging in pro-ecological
behaviours – such as resource conservation – report greater happiness
\cite{Brown_2005}, that altruism leads to greater long-term happiness \cite{ja1995}, and that frugality predicts greater psychological
wellbeing, satisfaction and motivation \cite{Brown_2005}. More equitable individuals
however, had been reported to be less happy due to the ‘negative hedonic
impact of inequality in society’. It is notable here that climate change
exacerbates existing inequities \cite{Hayes_2018}.
Others have proposed the concept of ‘sustainable happiness’ \cite{2016}, defined as “happiness that
contributes to individual, community, and/or global well-being without
exploiting other people, the environment, or future generations”\cite{obrien2010} thus
differentiating it from “sustaining happiness” or “sustainable in-
creases in happiness” \cite{s2007}. More
recently, a structural model of the relationships between character
strengths, virtues and sustainable behaviours has been presented in
which all 24 character strengths \cite{p2004} are associated with all four
sustainable behaviours (i.e. altruistic, frugal, equitable and
pro-ecological behaviours) \cite{Corral_Verdugo_2015}. This body of work provides a useful
foundation on which psychological scientists may advocate a role for the
discipline in addressing environmental challenges, such that
pro-environmental behaviours also provide opportunities to promote
happiness and build resources for resilience, in addition to much-needed
environmental benefits \cite{Clayton_2016,fraijo-sing2011,Corral_Verdugo_2012}. It is the grave threat that human beings face
that may also inspire a variety of positive feelings such as altruism,
compassion, optimism as well as a sense of purpose “as people band
together to salvage, rebuild, and console amongst the chaos and loss of
a changing climate” \cite{Hayes_2018}, reflecting ‘active hope’ \cite{c2012}.
While the emerging positive psychology of sustainability \cite{Corral_Verdugo_2015,Kjell_2011,Corral_Verdugo_2012,obrien2016} provides a clear link
between individual and environmental wellbeing, it is also notable that
the vast majority of people do not engage in proenvironmental behaviours
[REF?]. Recent qualitative research \cite{langen2017} has investigated the
psychological processes that not only foster such behaviours, but those
that can lead one to become agents for change. The researchers
interpreted their findings in the context of ‘salutogenesis’ \cite{ANTONOVSKY_1996}, a word
based on the Latin term ‘salus’ (health, well-being) and the Greek word
‘genesis’ meaning emergence or creation \cite{langen2017}. The salutogenic concept
emphasises a key role for a ‘sense of coherence’ for managing and
overcoming stress. This ‘sense of coherence’ reflect feelings of
confidence that stimuli in the (internal and external) environment are
comprehensible, manageable and meaningful. The researchers reported that
grassroots activists relied on values and attitudes, rather than
cognitive assessments of the problems. The researchers emphasised that
the problems are so vast that limits are imposed on knowledge (i.e.
comprehensibility), arguing that emotions are a key mediator between the
appraisal of a situation and motivation to take action. The difficulty
in comprehending problems associated with climate change, and the
intangibility and invisibility of such change may even lead individuals
to sit on their hands and do nothing, a phenomenon known as ‘Giddens
Paradox’ \cite{a2009}. Maschkowski and colleagues also contrast the
ideological foundation of consumer society (‘the more we consume, the
better off we are’) with a sense of personal responsibility for change,
reporting that grassroots activists had an improved perceived quality of
life, speculating that these improvements were attributable to
empowerment and social cohesion, providing a sense of meaning and
purpose in life (i.e. meaningfulness). Finally, concrete and collective
action was observed to enhance positive emotions and mastery experiences
subsequently enhancing beliefs about self-efficacy (i.e. manageability)
\cite{langen2017}.
In summary, exposure to nature provides a host of benefits that have
direct impacts on wellbeing, and may even promote commitment to
proenvironmental behaviours. Although psychological scientists have been
criticised for contributing to the problem of consumerism and
materialistic pursuits, we have observed emerging research interest in
the concepts of sustainable happiness and wellbeing, directly linking
positive psychology to concepts relating to sustainability and
proenvironmental behaviours. While some authors have questioned whether
it is possible to quantify wellbeing \cite{Crawshaw_2008}, arguing that wellbeing is a
holistic concept that is difficult to pin down within a “culture of
growing self-interest propagated within pervasive neoliberal ideology”
\cite{Dooris_2017}, we suggest otherwise, although much work in this area remains to be
done. Researchers have begun to begun to propose broader
conceptualisations of health and wellbeing incorporating individual,
family, community and societal dimensions \cite{Dooris_2017}, as well as the need to
support the wellbeing of future generations \cite{Lindstr_m_2010}. While psychological
scientists have typically emphasised a role for the individual in
enhancing and improving wellbeing (i.e. the individualist approach to
health), sociologists have emphasised the role of the state (the
structuralist approach to health). Future research on wellbeing will
require us to step outside our disciplinary silos, and conduct
inter-disciplinary, even trans-disciplinary research that harnesses both
approaches. Behaviour change is difficult especially in regards to the
adoption of proenvironmental behaviours. It is a perhaps relief that one
can be motivated to act against climate change, irrespective of personal
importance placed on climate change itself and whether or not one is a
‘believer’ or ‘skeptic’ by appealing to economic advancement and
building community \cite{Bain_2015}.
INTEGRATE:
http://www.thrivingplacesindex.org/, “This year, we have
strengthened the sustainability and equality domains to underline the
vital importance of delivering the conditions for wellbeing in a way
that challenges current power imbalances and recognises the rights of
future generations.“
XXX
Exposure to nature is another route through which an individual can
experience eudaimonia (Passmore & Howell, 2014), among others (Ruini &
Ryff, 2016).
It has been proposed that humans have an adverse response to
environments that are restrictive and this a biological, evolutionary
response. This is because life-threatening objects/animals could be
hidden, with limited escape access, resulting in a high likelihood of
death. Research has highlighted the preference of open, natural settings
with high visual depth as opposed to restrictive environments \citep*{kaplan1989} (Kaplan &
Kaplan, 1989; Ulrich, 1986). In line with this view, research has
focused on the impact of nature on wellbeing. For example, Ulrich (1984)
compared the impact of patients’ views on their recovery rate after gall
bladder surgery. Those who had the view of deciduous trees had a quicker
recovery rate (were discharged from hospital sooner) and received fewer
potent pain killer injections than those who had a view of a brick wall.
In another study, nature’s restorative effect was assessed whilst
controlling for the effect of exercise (Hartig, Mang, & Evans 1991).
Participants’ stress levels were increased via a cognitive task, they
then either walked for 40 minutes in an urban nature area dominated by
trees and vegetation, walked for 40 minutes in a natural urban
environment, or read or listened to music for 40 minutes. Those who
walked for 40 minutes in the urban nature area dominated by vegetation
reported the most positive affect post-intervention compared with the
other groups.
Other research has highlighted the benefit of nature on cognitive
function, for example, walking in nature or viewing nature photography
can improve performance on the backwards digit-span task and the
Attention Network Task (Berman, Jonides, & Kaplan, 2009). The
hypothesis behind this is the attention restoration theory (ART)
(Kaplan, 1995; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989). This theory proposes that living
in urban areas demands an increased amount of directed attention, which
can result in attentional fatigue, which not only impacts on cognitive
function as noted above, but may also play a role in increasing the
likelihood of health-related issues via neural and behavioural pathways
as a result of worsened decision making and lower levels of self-control
(Fan & Jin, 2013; Hare, Camerer, & Rangel, 2009; Vohs et al., 2008).
Alternatively, spending time in nature allows an individual to recover
their attentional capacities (Felsten, 2009).
A review on the benefits of exposure to nature found it has a direct and
positive impact on wellbeing (Bowler et al., 2010). However, the most
common measure consisted of subjective emotions. The objective data
consisting of blood pressure and cortisol levels showed less consistent
results comparing the impact of nature and synthetic environments.
Despite this, a subjective improvement in emotions is a desired outcome,
with previous discussions highlighting the self-sustaining upward spiral
of positive emotion, vagal function and social connectedness.
Leading from this is evidence to support the link of a strong
environmental identity (one’s position within an ecosystem) and
wellbeing. Hinds and Sparks (2010) hypothesised that the frequency and
degree of meaning from experiences in the natural environment would
positively predict wellbeing and environmental identity; their research
partly supporting this. They also found that individuals who grew up in
rural areas would report a greater frequency and a stronger degree of
meaning from experiences in the natural environment, in addition to
increased wellbeing, compared to those raised in urban environments.
Global Warming
Heatwaves are of concern due to their rapid increase in frequency,
duration, and intensity. They have been associated with increases in
hospital psychiatric admissions, suicides, and population distress
(Carleton, 2017; Nitschke, Tucker, & Bi, 2007; Qi et al., 2014;
Williams, Hill, & Spicer, 2015). The weather can also impact food
shortages, homelessness, agricultural land, and scared places (Berry et
al., 2018), which can subsequently influence health. Extreme weather can
even influence health and wellbeing of an unborn child. For example,
children who were conceived in the three months following an ice storm
in Quebec were followed up at 5-years of age (Dancause et al., 2012).
Objective and subjective prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) was measured.
Results highlighted PNMS to be an independent risk factor for childhood
obesity. Similarly, PNMS independently predicts insulin secretion in
adolescence in a positively correlated relationship (Dancause et al.,
2013).
INTEGRATE RECENT PNAS STUDY ON CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTING ON INEQUALITY:
“many countries near the equator, which are generally poorer, lost an
average of more than 25% of potential growth in gross domestic product
(GDP) because of global warming, the researchers report today in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Many cooler, mostly
wealthier countries, in contrast, enjoyed an economic bump of 20% or
more, thanks to warmer weather.” GENIAL model highlights inequality as
a key sociostructural factor impacting on wellbeing and here is evidence
that climate change is making things worse!! DISCUSSED HERE:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/global-warming-may-boost-economic-inequality
INTEGRATE:
concerns over the sustainability of an animal-based diet have led to analyses of changes in dietary choices \citep{Springmann2016}. For instance, this styudy observed that transitioning toward a more plant-based diet in line with standard dietary guidelines could reduce mlobal mortality by 6-10% as well as food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 29-70% by 2050 in comparison to a reference scenario. Adopting a vegetarian diet would reduce water, energy, fertiliser and pesticide use, subsequently improving both the environment as well as individual health \citep{Marlow2009}. The Mediterranean diet (which is low in meat, but not vegetariaqn) has also been proposed as a way to both improve the environment along with individual heath \citep{Sáez-Almendros2013}. As a result of the growing concern surrounding a diet based on animal products for both individual health and the environment, encouragements such as the VB6 (vegan before 6pm) diet or flexitarianism (flexible vegetarianism) have been proposed to battle both growing issues (Bittman, 2013; Raphaely & Marinova, 2012; Raphaely & Marinova, 2014). Interest in vegetarianism and veganism is continually growing as people become more mindful and ethical of their dietary choices , with trends such as "Veganuary" (being vegan for the month of January) growing (The Vegan Society, 2019).
INTEGRATE: It is important to be mindful of environmental contextual impacts of sociostructural factors such as sociometric status , poverty , social cohesion , neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status and collective efficacy on personal wellbeing.