Olin Eugene Myers, Jr., a psychologist working in the area of environmental conservation at Western Washington University, is seeking contributions to a paper symposium that aims to bring together psychology and political science around questions of agency and institutions, for the Society for Conservation Biology's 2010 conference in July (June 30-July 10), in Edmonton Alberta.

He says:

“I work with the SCB's Social Science Working Group, which brings together social scientists who study conservation either as a subject of interest to the discipline's principle questions and/or to understand and improve conservation - and sometimes both. I am trying to bridge with political science in applied conservation contexts.

“I am especially interested in how psychology intersects with the conference theme: the changing planet. I think psychological concepts and findings have important contributions to make regarding how people change and adapt. The areas of psychological development, coping, cognition and affect, resilience, adult cognition, social influence, positive psychology, autonomy-supportive environments, cultural psychology, democracy, social change movements and identities, leadership, and so on are germane. Often, however, the impact of psychological insight depends on its integration into other levels of cultural social processes.

“In order to increase the relevance of psychology, I'm interested in pulling together a symposium that would bring together psychology and political science or other disciplines around questions of agency and institutions. These are terms more used in political science (and other disciplines) other than psychology, but psychology has a lot to say about both. Agency refers to individuals and groups acting in socially constructed contexts, including institutions. Institutions can be conceptualized as roles/ organizations, or as "the rules of the game" governing activity some area of society. The relations between agency and institutions are reciprocal.

“Psychology is being applied in non-conservation institutions more today than at any point in the recent past—witness for example behavioral economics, and books like Thayer and Sunsteins's Nudge. Much earlier in the development of CP, in the 2003 edition of Human Ecology Review edited by myself and Carol Saunders, Mascia called for psychological inquiry into the relations of individuals and conservation institutions. In conversations with colleagues across the social sciences, this continues to emerge as an important intersection for conservation to tap.

“This topic invites us to push beyond the boundaries of our familiar expertise. This symposium should include psychologists as well as other social scientists, as well as practitioners or researchers with challenging case studies. Accepted papers would include conceptual analyses as well as empirical contributions that demonstrate bridging levels of analysis, or at least suggest possibly fruitful such bridgings. Since there may be a relative lack of relevant research applied to conservation, some contributions of a tentative, exploratory nature which primarily lead to dialog are expected. Conservation may be not only the topical focus, but also the occasion for important advances of a general nature between the disciplines.

“If possible let me know by November 15 if you have a potential contribution. Send me a title of your presentation and whether you plan to participate. I will need abstracts by mid December. I'll follow up with anyone who responds. Please advertise this opportunity to colleagues in your discipline who have relevant expertise but have not applied it to conservation. Having a mix of both psychologists and other disciplines represented will be essential.”

Olin Eugene (Gene) Myers, Jr.
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Studies
Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington University
516 High St. MS 9085
Bellingham, WA 98225-9085 USA
ph. 360.650.4775
fx. 360.650.7702
Gene.Myers@wwu.edu
home page: http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~gmyers