Attention Restoration Theory
This Essay will firstly focus on my experience with nature which connects to my experience of walking around a local unused golf course. The theory which relates to this experience is Attention restoration theory (ART). ART believes there is a type of attention which becomes exhausted and can be restored with nature. In addition, Restorative Components of Environments Scale (RCES) and Ulrich’s Psychoevolutionary theory will be examined to demonstrate how they also relate to my experience with nature. The second experience will focus on the wider environment. I will explain how defence mechanisms can be used to deal with how individuals act or feel in relation to the environment and how this relates to my experience. In addition, Worthy’s phenomenal
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Nonetheless, I choose to unconsciously ignore the crisis as I cannot associate with the problems that are occurring in the wider environment as they are not visible to me. This relates to phenomenal dissociation (Worthy, 2008, p. 149 cited in Adams, 2015), which is an absence of physical and instant association that our actions have on human and nonhuman others. Before the introduction of a charge for plastic carrier bags, I would rarely think twice about discarding a plastic carrier bag and as Worthy suggests modern society is controlled in such a way that individual actions remain separated and dispersed. Therefore, I can disassociate myself from what my actions cause to the environment. Worthy (2008 cited Adams, 2015) expanded on Milgram’s obedience to authority experiment. In particular, Worthy was looking at the proximity of ‘teacher’ and ‘pupil’ as it showed the closer the ‘pupil’ was to the ‘teacher’ the less likely the ‘teacher’ would administer a higher shock level. Worthy associated this to destructive behaviour. Relating back to my experience, I do not observe the harmful practices of my behaviour and as Worthy proposes, it is ‘the degree of separation between ‘pupil’ and ‘teacher’ (Adams, 2015, p. 403). If I experienced first-hand where my plastic carrier bag ended up, I would probably have never thrown a carrier bag away. Viewing Worthy’s concept from a social point of view, it can be argued that social, cultural and political power has a great deal to do with phenomenal dissociations, not just the unawareness or abandonment of the individual. Therefore, simple steps that are implemented, for example, the charge of carrier bags in supermarkets, is a way that society is encouraged to change behaviour. Since the introduction of the charge for carrier bags I have changed my behaviour and
Nonetheless, I choose to unconsciously ignore the crisis as I cannot associate with the problems that are occurring in the wider environment as they are not visible to me. This relates to phenomenal dissociation (Worthy, 2008, p. 149 cited in Adams, 2015), which is an absence of physical and instant association that our actions have on human and nonhuman others. Before the introduction of a charge for plastic carrier bags, I would rarely think twice about discarding a plastic carrier bag and as Worthy suggests modern society is controlled in such a way that individual actions remain separated and dispersed. Therefore, I can disassociate myself from what my actions cause to the environment. Worthy (2008 cited Adams, 2015) expanded on Milgram’s obedience to authority experiment. In particular, Worthy was looking at the proximity of ‘teacher’ and ‘pupil’ as it showed the closer the ‘pupil’ was to the ‘teacher’ the less likely the ‘teacher’ would administer a higher shock level. Worthy associated this to destructive behaviour. Relating back to my experience, I do not observe the harmful practices of my behaviour and as Worthy proposes, it is ‘the degree of separation between ‘pupil’ and ‘teacher’ (Adams, 2015, p. 403). If I experienced first-hand where my plastic carrier bag ended up, I would probably have never thrown a carrier bag away. Viewing Worthy’s concept from a social point of view, it can be argued that social, cultural and political power has a great deal to do with phenomenal dissociations, not just the unawareness or abandonment of the individual. Therefore, simple steps that are implemented, for example, the charge of carrier bags in supermarkets, is a way that society is encouraged to change behaviour. Since the introduction of the charge for carrier bags I have changed my behaviour and