Academic literature on the topic 'Antarctic psychology'

AbstractAlthough existing research regarding the experience of Antarctic employment has primarily focused on the absence period (i.e. the period of time in which the expeditioner physically works in Antarctica), it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the majority of expeditioners experience positive outcomes associated with their time ‘on the ice’ despite transient (and frequently subclinical) physical, psychological, and social difficulties. Research strategies directed towards the individual experience of the expeditioner have not been able to fully account for the processes underpinning the adjustment processes that have facilitated seemingly resilient and growth outcomes. Similarly, insufficient research attention has been given to the separate phases of Antarctic employment, nor the potential interdependence between them, which may also provide further insight into these processes. To address these issues it has been argued that an approach incorporating individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors throughout the Antarctic employment experience, from pre-departure through absence, reunion, and reintegration, be adopted.

AbstractAntarctica and Australia share a geographical marginality, a commonality that has produced and continues to reinforce historical and political ties between the two continents. Given this close relationship, surprisingly few fulllength novels set in or concerned with the Antarctic have been produced by Australian authors. Until 1990, two latenineteenth- century Utopias, and two novels by Thomas Keneally, were (to our knowledge) the sole representatives of this category. The last decade, however, has seen an upsurge of interest in Antarctica, and a corresponding increase in fictional response. Keneally's novels are ‘literary,’ but these more recent novels cover the gamut of popular genres: science fiction, action-thriller, and romance. Furthermore, they indicate a change in the perception of Antarctica and its place within international relations. Whereas Keneally is primarily concerned with the psychology of the explorer from the ‘Heroic Age,’ these younger Australian writers are interested in contemporary political, social, and environmental issues surrounding the continent. Literary critics have hitherto said little about textual representations of Antarctica; this paper opens a space for analysis of ‘Antarctic fiction,’ and explores the changing nature of Australian-Antarctic relations as represented by Australian writers.

Over the past decade, the EU has developed broader interests in the polar regions – ranging from fisheries, research and environmental protection to foreign affairs. Although this applies mainly to the Arctic region, its geographical opposite – the Antarctic – has not fallen into oblivion. This article explores the EU’s way ‘south’, examining its links to the region as well as the key drivers of this growing – albeit still limited – Antarctic engagement. International actions taken to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) also indicate supranational tendencies to engage actively in and with Antarctic affairs. In particular, this concerns the European Commission and broader debates on sustainable development and global environmental leadership. European Union, Antarctic, Marine Protected Areas, Fisheries, Antarctic Treaty System

Includes Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) and 6 item subscales adapted from the OCI as appendices. Bibliography: leaves 240-255. Investigates the culture of isolated Australian Antarctic stations using qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research also investigated the assessment of person-culture fit within the context of Antarctic station life and culture. Five studies were undertaken on returned Australian Antarctic expeditioners and the results reflect a historical overview of Antarctic station culture from 1950 to 1999.

This thesis is a cross disciplinary consideration of the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical debates on the construction of place. This place discourse is interwoven with an investigation of the historical and current social, cultural and scientific representations of the unique and significant place of Antarctica and school research. Through the paradigm of critical educational research it relates this place discourse to the pedagogy of place. Classroom research, using an integrative mixed methods approach, was undertaken in an English, comprehensive, secondary school with mixed gender and ability 11-18 year old English students. This case study examines how representations influence English school students’ place perceptions of the Antarctic continent. Analysis of the classroom research with qualitative software identifies the key components and differences of the imaginations and the ‘realities’ of the students’ perceptions of Antarctica. The research establishes what and how varied representations influence the students’ place perceptions of this distant continent. It explores how digital representations across the continuum of the concept of place, a film place matrix and dialogical discussion could be employed to challenge and change student perceptions of place through critical reflection. The research brings the secondary students’ voice to the discourse of place construction. The findings suggest the teaching of place needs to move beyond the socio constructive approach to a social realist understanding of place and to adopt a holistic pedagogical approach. The thesis highlights how students need to make conscious their unconscious perceptions of place and to critically engage with the place representations they encounter if they are to develop a deep sense of distant place.

The purpose of this thesis was to apply mainstream theoretical social psychology to group dynamics in isolated confined extreme (ICE) environments, with a particular focus on the context of long duration spaceflight. This was done by providing a thorough review of both the ICE environment psychology literature and the social psychological literature. From this it emerged that significant gaps existed within the ICE literature around the understanding of group processes. A review of relevant social psychology literature suggested that the social identity perspective may have much to offer in advancing the understanding of group processes in these environments. It was argued that processes related to social identification plays a key role in the team functionality. Of particular note was how social ‘norms’ could influence social identification processes and group functioning. Crew heterogeneity had been cited as a potential concern in much ICE literature, so group norms that related to diversity were investigated. Three theoretical chapters provided a review of space and ICE environment psychology literature, social psychology literature and diversity literature. Five experiments are reported in this thesis. The first, an exploratory field study which study took place during an expedition into the Australian Outback, made general predictions about how social identification might be constrained by the extreme environment context. The study demonstrated that identity processes did indeed influence group functionality, but also that the presence of pro-diversity group norms seemed to have a positive influence. In order to explore this issue in more detail, four studies were conducted. These included a field study at the Mars Desert Research station in Utah, two laboratory studies and a final field study that took place during a winter-over period at the Concordia Research station in Antarctica. Collectively these studies demonstrated that ingroup identification played an important role in driving group functionality in extreme environments. In addition they demonstrated that the presence of a pro-diversity group norm had the potential to increase group identification while also reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes (crew alienation and sub-group conflict). Multilevel Linear Modelling and Social Network Analysis were used in two of the studies and if adopted have the potential to significantly improve the validity of future extreme environment research. By using these techniques in this thesis, the certainty surrounding the research findings was greatly enhanced. Taken together the work of this thesis demonstrated three key points: that mainstream social psychology theory and research has much to offer extreme environment research.; social identification processes play a key role in the group dynamics of people in extreme environments; and that a pro-diversity norm, under certain conditions, can play an important role in maximising group functioning. The contribution of this thesis, then, has implications for the ICE literature as well as the social/organisational literature on group diversity and finally the kind of group culture that should be encouraged in extreme environments.