Episode 4 - Considering environmental psychology to foster healthy societies - a spotlight interview

This is the final episode in the second series which addresses the overall research question of  ‘How can environmental psychology as part of a transdisciplinary approach, support system change for healthy societies’.  In this episode, ‘Considering environmental psychology to foster healthy societies’, we explore how we conceptualise what healthy societies are, applying Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory from the individual to the macro, and consider how this relates to broader changes in society as part of a chronosystem perspective - which means the social, environmental and historical events that occur overtime and shape and influences the possibility for healthy societies to form. We discuss the usage and benefits of environmental psychology through the development of methods, key topics, and the challenges in developing transdisciplinary research to contribute to the development of healthy societies.

In Series 2, Episode four, Hannah Arnett is in conversation with Professor Lindsay McCunn to learn about the context environmental psychology can be applied in, from the wider environmental challenges of climate change, to the type of environment humans are influenced by and the psychological processes that may enable desired environments to form, which can influence decision making and impact at individual and group level.  As we explore the value and uses of a psychological science, we develop a shared understanding of how environmental psychology as part of transdisciplinary approaches can contribute to experience and structures that can form healthy societies.

This podcast explores:

• How an environmental psychology lens can shape our experience of health, with scope for wider application through different environmental contexts, methods and innovations, to support development of a transdisciplinary evidence base 
• Whether there is a need for standardisation of concepts in environmental psychology to support wider system change through the application of psychological science in a health context 
• A reflection on the discipline’s past, it’s future, and the responsibility to ensure it’s rooted in a social good

We hope you enjoy exploring environmental psychology with this episode to close the series!