Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe.

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Essay on environmental disaster and catastrophe

  1. Describe what psychologists have learned about environmental disaster and/or technological catastrophe

An environmental disaster is a natural disaster that few people will experience in their lifetime.  These are relatively infrequent natural events that are the product of natural physical forces governing the earth and atmosphere.  A technological catastrophe is a human made disaster, the result of some human error or miscalculation.  These events are usually called disasters when there is a substantial degree of destruction and disruption and the events are uncontrollable either because they are natural disasters or because they represent the occasional loss of control over something which humans normally control very well.

Psychologists have studied disasters and catastrophes in an attempt to ascertain what characterises a disaster and what the psychological effects of disaster and catastrophe.

It has been found that the characteristics of a disaster effect how people react.  One important characteristic is the amount of warning available.  Fritz & Marks (1954) found that a lack of warning about a disaster can make the consequences worse, however Drabek & Stephenson (1971) found that the effectiveness of repeated warnings of flash floods was undermined by factors such as families being separated at the time of warnings – they showed more concern for locating each other than evacuating, and the method used to deliver warnings – the news media reached the most people but was least effective in producing appropriate responses.

Psychologists have also studied people’s awareness and perception of the risks they face from natural disaster. One field study by Simms & Baumann (1972) suggests that personality determines perception of risk.  They found that residents of Alabama were more external in their locus of control, believing in the forces of fate rather than personal responsibility.  These residents were less likely to take precautions such as listening to radio reports of weather and preparing for storms, than residents in Illinois, who had internal locus of control.  Death rates from Tornadoes were higher in the southern areas (Alabaman) than in the mid west (Illinois) this suggests that personality factors affect people’s perceived risk from natural disaster.

There have been many studies of the psychological effects of disaster.  Bowman (1964) observed the responses of psychiatric patients to a massive earthquake in Alaska and found that initial responses were very positive, people wanted to help and there was an increased feeling of unity.  This suggests that social cohesiveness may increase in response to disasters.

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However many other negative effects have been found.  Wood (1992) found earthquake survivors experienced twice as many nightmares as a control group of P’s from the university of Arizona who did not live near the earthquake.

In a case study of survivors from the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster Joseph et al (1993) found increased levels of alcohol, cigarettes, sleeping pills, anti depressants and tranquilliser consumption, and these effects were still evident 30 months after the disaster.

This suggests that psychological effects of disasters may be widespread and long lasting.

In contrast to environmental disasters, evidence suggest ...

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Summary There is quite a lot of detail contained in this essay and the writer has used some very good references. There is quite a lot to cover under the title and the writer has managed to be concise and include all the pertinent and relevant information. Score 4 *