PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF INDIVIDUAL ECOLOGICAL CONSCIOUSNESS: CURRENT ISSUES OF MODERN ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

We define ecological consciousness as a set of views, theories and emotions that reflect the problems of the relationships between a man (a society) and the natural environment in terms of their optimal solution. At the same time, ecological consciousness, active in its form of manifestation, covers both the mental and emotional spheres of a human psyche, if scientific arguments activate the consciousness of a given subject and they are perceived by the person as a personal conviction in the need to change his/her attitude towards the environment in a view of the acquired ecological knowledge.

In the context of studying the theoretical foundations of the problem of ecological consciousness, we consider the most general definition of ecological consciousness as a system of human attitudes to his/her relations with the outside world, to subjective possibilities and the consequences of changes in these relations in the interests of a man or humanity as a whole, formed in the form of a conceptual apparatus. These scientists also emphasize the expediency of the urgent dissemination of existing concepts and ideas that have a social nature to phenomena, the objects of nature and their relationships with a man. This system of relationships, according to our mind, assumes their active dynamic nature. In our opinion, this formulation of ecological consciousness is essentially very close to the definition of an ecological worldview. It is as one of the basic elements of such a worldview that we consider ecological consciousness.

By ecological consciousness, we understand it as the totality of the person’s ecological ideas, the existing attitude towards nature, as well as the corresponding strategies and technologies of interaction with it. Scientists identify three main channels for the formation of an individual’s subjective attitude towards nature: 1) perceptual one – in the process of constructing a perceptual image; 2) cognitive one – based on the processing of information received by the recipient; 3) practical one – during direct practical interaction of subjects with each other and with the objects of the surrounding reality. The main role in the process of forming an attitude towards nature, according to the authors, belongs to so-called psychological releases – specific stimuli associated with a given natural object. Natural psychological releases are visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory-gustatory and behavioral or vital. The result of processing visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory-gustatory releases is an emotional attitude towards sensations, and behavioral patterns’ releases are a comparison of oneself with another person and an emotional assessment that is arisen on this basis. At the same time, the result of the action of the mechanisms of the perceptual channel is a person’s desire to change natural objects.

Ecological awareness, we think, is the highest form of reflection of the real ecological situation, which is responsible for a holistic vision of environmental problems, awareness of the unity of people and the environment, understanding of the presence of an internal “self-regulator” of environmentally civilized behavior, a sense of responsibility, a healthy lifestyle, and active environmental protection activities, which, in turn, are largely determined by a person’s attitude to the surrounding world.