Transcript Fear and Anxiety: The Effects of Global Climate

Fear and Anxiety:
The Effects of Global
Climate Change
Perceptions
SUNY Oswego- Global Labs
UNIBE
Courtney Bledsoe, Augustus
McGiver
Abstract
• This research centers around climate change
and our physiological and psychological
responses to it.
• We used 4 types of physiological measures:
Pulse, Galvanic skin response (GSR),
Electromyogram (EMG) and Respiration.
Introduction
• There are several human behavioral contributions to
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climate change.
It is often discussed that, to keep the climate from
changing drastically, humans must change certain
behaviors.
There are many psychological barriers that limit
behavioral changes.
There has been a multitude of research done to
show that climate change can lead to a
psychological response of anxiety or fear.
This study topic has been chosen to help further
analyze these psychological barriers.
Location
• This study took place in San Jose, Costa
Rica.
• UNIBE- Universidad de Iberoamerica.
Objectives
The objectives of this experiment are as
follows:
• To observe whether or not there are changes
in physiological responses when stimulated
with video of a natural disaster.
• To view first hand, the factors that might
influence the responses.
Hypothesis
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There will be a significant increase
in physiological and psychological
responses when exposed to natural
disaster stimuli
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Methods
Participants were chosen from students that
attend UNIBE and also from the U.S.A
They were given a consent form to sign; then the
participants were asked several pre-stimuli
questions to answer.
Following that, they were asked to sit down and
the equipment was hooked up to them.
A two minute baseline, to test the equipment,
was taken and then they were shown a fifteen
minute video clip of a natural disaster.
After the video, the participants were asked to
answer a few post-stimuli questions.
Measurements
- Pulse Monitor
Measures heart rate
- Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
Measures electrical conductance of sweat glands
- Respiratory Band
Measures breathing rate
- Electromyogram (EMG)
Measures electrical activity produced by
muscles
Gender
Gender
Frequency
Percentage
Female
35
72.9
Male
13
27.1
Total
48
100
Location of Studies
Location
Frequency
Percentage
Costa Rica
38
79.2
United States
10
20.8
Total
48
100
Respiration Results
Paired Samples t-test
Respiration
(baseline vs.
experimental)
t
df
Sig. (2tailed)
RES1-1:30
RES 3:30-4
3.097
25
.005
RES 1-1:30
RES 4:30-5
2.103
25
.046
RES 1-1:30
RES 5-5:30
2.743
25
.011
Discussion
• Our data supported
the notion that
respiration rate was
significantly
decreased during
multiple sections of
the video when
compared to the
baseline.
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Upon further analysis we
hope to look at EMG and
GSR data. We also would
like to compare the
differences between
independent variables
such as gender, major,
location, etc.
In future experiments we'd
like to compare data with a
larger sample size across
multiple cultures.
Contact Information
Courtney: [email protected]
Augustus: [email protected]