07/05/2023
By Naomi Wernick

The Kennedy College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences, invites you to attend a Master's Thesis Proposal defense by Payal Patel entitled “Impact of Eco-Anxiety on Climate Related Behaviors.”

Location: Zoom
Date: Friday, July 14, 2023
Time: 2 p.m.

Committee Chair: Teaching Professor Naomi Wernick, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Committee Members:
Professor Steve Balsis, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Assistant Teaching Professor Alison Hamilton, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Professor Juliette Rooney-Varga, Department of Environmental Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract:
Climate change leads to extreme weather events, which can cause water and food scarcity, loss of home and infrastructure, political unrest, and inflation. There has been a growing amount of research on the physical impacts of climate change, but there is a gap in research when looking at the mental impacts. The focus of this research is to analyze the effects of eco-anxiety on climate behaviors. Eco-anxiety is defined as a chronic fear of environmental doom. A well-respected model of anxiety and task performance is the Yerkes-Dodson model, which states that very low or high anxiety levels do not enhance performance quality but that maximum performance quality is achieved at medium levels of anxiety. Based on this framework, individuals who fall in the center of the eco-anxiety scale will have the highest level of pro-environmental behaviors and individuals who fall on either end of the eco-anxiety scale, extremely low or high anxiety, will have lower levels of pro-environmental behaviors.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.