+1 862 207 3288 A growing number of psychologists are interested in global concerns and believe that increased collaboration facilitates
solutions to global issues. While some challenges are local or regional in scope, others affect nations all over the world.
Your course text identifies three major concerns of global significance. These are intergroup conflict, threats to the
natural environment, and risks to mental and physical health. These issues are broad and cross many disciplines, including
economics, politics, education, medicine, environmental science, and psychology. Every day, concerns of global significance
are detailed in news stories on television, in newspapers, on the Internet, and in other media sources. In a story about
spinach contaminated by E. coli bacteria, you might read about a medical professional considering how to treat people who
became ill after eating the spinach; a politician proposing legislation to regulate agriculture to avoid such breakouts; and
an environmental scientist researching how E. coli contaminated the product. While perhaps not in this example, psychologists
also have critical roles in addressing global issues.
To prepare for this Discussion:
*Review, Toward a Global Psychology: Theory, Research, Intervention, and Pedagogy. Pay particular attention to the following
sections: “Definitions and Distinctions” and “Three Concerns of Global Significance.”
* Consider how concerns of global significance can benefit from the application of global psychology and the role that global
psychologists might play in addressing these concerns.
*Locate a news story on television, in the newspaper, or on the Internet that addresses one of the concerns of global
significance described in your course text.
*Consider how a global psychologist might have an impact on the concern you selected and/or the role such a person might play
in addressing the concern.
