Creating Tomorrow Volume II
Description
This book, the second volume of Creating Tomorrow: Character Strengths and Positive Psychology in the Anthropocene examines how the virtues of Humanity, Justice, Temperance and Transcendence can guide action and orientation in an era marked by environmental disruption, cultural fragmentation and ethical uncertainty. It builds on the foundation of the first volume by shifting the focus from understanding to transformation, showing how strengths support social engagement, ecological responsibility and meaningful responses to planetary change.
Humanity includes love, kindness and social intelligence as capacities that nurture connection with natural and social systems, strengthen compassion and enable cooperative action. Justice brings together teamwork, fairness and leadership as resources for participation, shared responsibility and collaborative approaches to global challenges. Temperance, through forgiveness, humility, prudence and self-regulation, encourages deliberate choices and more conscious ways of living. Transcendence encompasses appreciation of beauty, gratitude, hope, humour and spirituality, deepening emotional resonance, expanding imaginative perspectives and offering orientation in times of profound change.
This book integrates research from environmental psychology, cultural studies, education, ethics and community-based work. Its contributions draw on varied cultural settings to demonstrate how character strengths manifest across contexts and how they can support responsible, relational and future-oriented engagement with the Anthropocene. Addressing scholars, educators and practitioners in psychology, education, sustainability, cultural inquiry and applied ethics, the book combines conceptual clarity with practical relevance. It offers perspectives for reflection, learning and engaged action in conditions of global transformation.
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Persons
Elisabeth Vanderheiden is an adult educator, mediator, and researcher. She serves as CEO of the Global Institute for Transcultural Research and of the NeuroTech Centre for Advanced Research. She is President of Catholic Adult Education in Germany and Managing Director of a Catholic adult education organisation in Rhineland-Palatinate. Her research focuses on shame, conflict, love, and transformative andragogy. Her publications have received several international awards, including the William B. Gudykunst Award and the 2024 Nautilus Award.
Claude-Hélène Mayer is Professor of Industrial and Organisational Psychology at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research focuses on transcultural mental health, conflict management and mediation, salutogenesis, emotions and culture, positive psychology, autoethnography and psychobiography. She is a senior editor for several outlets and a award recepient of awards, such as the HEWLA 2025 and the William B. Gudykunst Award 2023. She works as an international consultant, as well as a licenced mediator, systemic family therapist and trauma therapist in private practice.
Content
PART 1 Virtue of Humanity.- 1.Editorial.- 2.Love as a Resource for Mentalisation and Emotion Regulation in the Anthropocene.- 3.Social Intelligence in the Anthropocene Through Family and Child Influencing.- PART 2 Virtue of Justice.- 4.Citizenship in the Anthropocene. A Critical Adult Education Approach.- 5.The Potential of Humanity Based on Blackness as Antithesis to Racism - From a Case of Black Lives Matter Protests in Australia.- 6.Leadership as a Character Strength: A South African Case Study.- PART 3 Virtue of Temperance.- 7.Humility: a Key Virtue of the Anthropocene moment?.- 8.Decolonising Prudence: Reframing a Character Strength in the Anthropocene.- 9.The role of the Prudence Character Strength on the promotion of Justice and Sustainable Behavior.- 10.Self-Regulation in the Anthropocene: A Predictive and Systemic Perspective.- 11.Unrevealing Commitment to Environmental Sustainability in the Anthropocene Era: The Role of Values in Action (VIA) Character Strengths, Self-transcendence, Psychological Flexibility, and Environmental Self Efficacy, with the SEM-MLP Model.- 12.Unveiling Connectedness to Nature in the Anthropocene: A Bayesian Exploration through Forgiveness and Environmental Identity.- PART 4 Virtue of Transcendence.- 13.Create Momentum in Reality. Appreciation of Beauty in Community Arts in the Context of the Anthropocene.- 14.Awe in the Anthropocene: A Review of Awe on Pro-environmental Behavior, Connectedness to Nature, and Climate Change Beliefs and Attitudes.- 15.Predicting Psychological Well-Being Based on Gratitude, Self-Compassion, and Emotion Regulation Using Bayesian Regression.- 16.Hope as a Virtuous Character Strength - Toward an Integral Model for the Anthropocene.- 17.Laughter in the Anthropocene: The Role of Generative AI in Localizing Humor for Environmental Awareness.- 18.The Wisdom of Green Humour: An Interview with Rohan Chakravarty.- 19.Spirituality and its Importance in the Anthropocene.- 20.Patristic Wisdom and Mental Wellbeing: Positive Psychology in Greek Orthodox Spirituality.