Gabriel Moser

Environmental Beliefs and Endorsement of Sustainable Development Principles in Water Conservation: Toward a New Human Interdependence Paradigm Scale

It is thought that a dichotomy exists between two apparently contradictory belief systems: the so-called “Human Exception Paradigm” (HEP)—an anthropocentric belief system—and the “New Environmental Paradigm” (NEP), of ecocentric nature. The aim of this article was to test the presence of an integrative, nondichotomic, New Human Interdependence Paradigm (NHIP) and its influence on water conservation practices. The NHIP envisages interdependence between human progress and nature conservation and conceives it as a dynamic process of integration and incorporation of human needs into natural processes. Seven hundred and fifty-nine individuals living in cities of France, Italy, Mexico, and India responded to items of a purposively developed measuring instrument (the NHIP scale), as well to items of the HEP-NEP scale. They also self-reported the frequency of water conservation actions at their households. The NHIP coherently emerged from its observed indicators and it was a slightly better predictor of water conservation than the HEP-NEP scale.

Appropriation and Interpersonal Relationships From Dwelling to City Through the Neighborhood

Based on the results of three field research studies in Paris, this article outlines the way in which the individual constructs a cognitive and behavioral relationship with the environment at three different levels: housing, the residential neighborhood, and the city as a whole. Identity and environmental identification generating social cohesion and satisfaction is, according to the City-Identity-Sustainability model, an important condition for ecological behavior to occur. The appropriation or nonappropriation of a particular environmental context is analyzed in light of the differentiation of the relation to the dwelling, the immediate neighborhood, and the city and described in terms of modalities of interpersonal relationships, affective investment, satisfaction, and self-expression through residential history and place identity. The characteristics of modern urban life (mobility, transitional situations, and the denaturalization of the urban context) contribute to alter the individual’s relations to dwelling as well as to the immediate and enlarged urban context.

Politeness in the Urban Environment: Is City Life Still Synonymous with Civility?

This article examines the prevalence of politeness or civil behaviors in Paris and a smaller French provincial city (Nantes). Do people entering a large department store hold the door open for the person behind them? With a sample of 880 participants, observed at the entrance of department stores, no significant sex differences were found (for the participant or the person for whom the door could be held). Parisians were significantly less civil than their provincial counterparts, and high-density conditions reduced civil behavior in both settings. In the presence of a polite model (the preceding person holding the door open for the participant), Parisians, but not the provincial sample, are influenced by the preceding situation; the differences between Paris and the provincial city are in this case minimal. Results are considered in terms of social modeling: Being exposed to a polite behavior reactivates the cultural norm of politeness in Parisians.

Attachment Forever: Environmental and Social Dimensions, Temporal Perspective, and Choice of One’s Last Resting Place

Today, people are highly mobile and identify themselves with various places. Mobility affects the decisions that a person makes about his or her final resting place and how his or her remains will be disposed. A semistructured, face-to-face interview is conducted with residents of Paris and Madrid. Data analyses consist of content analysis and correspondence analysis. The choice of corpse disposal method is related to one’s religious affiliation and the spouse’s decision for his or her own disposal method. The choice of final resting place is related to mobility, degree of attachment to the actual place of residence and to one’s birthplace, and parents’ decision for their final resting place. Younger and more mobile people prefer cremation as a burial procedure. Future research should consider how place identity and place appropriation contribute to one’s choice of a final resting place.

Inadequate Environment and Situation Control Is a Malfunctioning Phone Always an Occasion for Aggression

An inadequate environment represents a stressful situation and is likely to produce aggressive behavior. Malfunctioning phones are stressful in more than one way: The users cannot place a call, do not know where other phone boxes are, and cannot get reimbursement of the money lost. The observed aggressive behavior of users could be explained by the lack of alternatives in this situation. To test this hypothesis, users were provided in a sample of phone boxes with additional information on possible next steps. The additional information reduces the amount of aggressiveness but does not change the nature of behavior. Results show that some aggressive acts against the environment develop when subjects feel they have no control in an inadequate environmental situation.

Psicologia Ambiental e estudos pessoas-ambiente: que tipo de colaboração multidisciplinar?

Este artigo procura definir quais as colaboracoes existentes entre a Psicologia Ambiental e os diversos estudos pessoas-ambiente a partir dos trabalhos inscritos no Congresso IAPS-16 (Paris, 2000). Na relacao entre transdiciplinaridade, pluridisciplinaridade e interdisciplinaridade, entende que o funcionamento cientifico e necessariamente mono-disciplinar, enquanto a intervencao nas relacoes pessoas-ambiente envolve uma dinâmica complexa. Quanto a intervencao (manejo socio-ambiental), distingue dois tipos de funcionamento: interdisciplinar e transdisciplinar. Conclui por um conhecimento que integre as diversas abordagens disciplinares em abordagens transdiciplinares.

Globalization and urban sociability: Landmarks for an education towards citizenship

The Final Declaration of the World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities (Habitat II, Istanbul, 01 may 1996) stated: As the main arena of social interaction and exchange, the town must be recognized as the pivotal human settlement, around which and within which economic growth and sustainable development, the well-being and social cohesion of the majority of people, capacity of adaptation and technical, social, cultural and political innovation, the invention of our future and the renewed vision of the progress of humanity and the future of our civilizations, will be determined.

Globalización y sociabilidad urbana: hitos para una educación hacia la ciudadanía

La calidad de vida y el bienestar en los ambientes urbanos son los requisitos para la ciudadania, como condicion del desarrollo sostenible. Sin una identidad urbana y una apropiacion de la ciudad, no es posible la educacion civica. De aqui la importancia de la educacion en la consolidacion de una ciudadania urbana. Dos aspectos sostienen la vida urbana de manera sostenible: 1) la apropiacion del lugar de residencia, por ejemplo, el arraigo territorial, y 2) las redes sociales e interpersonales desarrolladas dentro de la ciudad. Los individuos a menudo se unen de manera espontanea o se agrupan en un territorio urbano de acuerdo con sus afinidades sociales, culturales, etnicas o economicas, y forman distritos mas o menos homogeneos que tienden a singularizarse dentro de la comunidad urbana o en su totalidad. La educacion representa un papel importante al preparar a los individuos para considerarse a si mismos como ciudadanos dentro de la diversidad urbana. Esto se puede lograr al intervenir en dos aspectos complementarios e interconectados: las dimensiones fisica y social del ambiente urbano. El primer aspecto tiene que ver con el tejido urbano como espacio de vida. El segundo, con la diversidad social. El aislamiento del individuo de la comunidad puede prevenirse unicamente a traves de la educacion en la aceptacion de la diversidad y de los fines comunes que persiguen las personas. Trabajar en pro de ciudades sostenibles implica favorecer una cultura ciudadana y promover nuevas politicas de cohesion y cooperacion.