1st Edition
Adventure Psychology Going Knowingly into the Unknown
In recent years a new set of psychological principles has emerged from research investigating adventure and adventurous activities. Adventure involves a special type of physical activity in natural contexts where participants voluntarily participate in experiences where the environment and activity are challenging, perhaps dangerous and potentially life threatening. To go on an adventure is to participate in an enduring event requiring sustainable effort, where effective performance is measured not only by success but also by survival. This book brings together the emerging literature in ‘Adventure Psychology’ that supports enduring performance and wellbeing.
The first section examines sustaining performance and wellbeing. The second section studies the transformative aspect of adventure. Adventure Psychology is of use in everyday life and the techniques and understandings can help people and business prepare for the future. This book will help us all thrive despite adversity, volatility and uncertainty.
Written for researchers this book will also be useful for trainers, educators and students of sport, performance and organisational psychology as well as adventurers and endurance athletes. Adventure Psychology is designed to meet the needs of specialists across a variety of fields but importantly also to be accessible and applicable for those wanting to live life fully — to realise our full potential.
Adventure Psychology: Framing the Discipline
Eric Brymer and Paula Reid
Adventure Psychology: A Long Past, but a Short History
Peter Suedfeld
SECTION I
Sustaining Performance (While Maintaining Wellbeing)
1 The Adventurer’s Mind: Exploring Mindset, Mindfulness, and Wisdom
Mohsen Fatemi and Paula Reid
2 Adventures in Extreme Environments
Peter Suedfeld
3 Enduring Performance
Ronald Duren Jr.
4 Dealing with the Unknown
Jennifer Pickett and Paula Reid
5 Adventure, Positive Psychology, and Narrative: The Wellbeing Impacts of Answering the Call to Adventure
Kitrina Douglas, David Carless, Paula Reid and Ruth Hughes
6 The Human–Environment Dynamic: An Ecological Dynamics Approach to Understanding Human–Environment Interactions in the Context of Adventure Psychology
Tuomas Immonen, Eric Brymer, Timo Jaakkola and Keith Davids
7 Fear in Extended Adventures: The Case of Expedition Mountaineering
Katrina Kessler and Eric Brymer
8 Success and Failure in Adventure
Erik Monasterio
9 Sisu: Answering the Call of Adventure with
Strength and Grace
Emilia Elisabet Lahti
SECTION II
Transformational Impact of Adventure
10 How Can Adventure Change Our Consciousness? An Exploration of Flow, Mindfulness, and Adventure
Susan Houge Mackenzie
11 Adventure, Posttraumatic Growth, and Wisdom
Hanna Kampman and Petra Walker
12 Adventure and the Sublime: A Quest for Transformation or Transcendence?
Chris Loynes and Amy Smallwood
13 Giving Back: An Autoethnographic Analysis of Adventure Experience as Transformational
Vinathe Sharma-Brymer
Adventure Psychology: Learnings and Implications
Eric Brymer and Paula Reid
Biography
Paula Reid has a Batchelor of Education (Hons) degree and graduated with a Distinction MSc in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology from the University of East London. Her organisation, ‘Adventure Psychology’, delivers the performance psychology of how to survive, cope and thrive during challenging times. She is based in the UK and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Eric Brymer is a behavioural scientist who specialises in researching the psychology of adventure experiences, performance in extreme environments and the reciprocal nature of health and wellbeing from nature-based experiences. He holds a PhD in Adventure Psychology, a Master’s degree in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology and postgraduate degrees in Education and Business. Eric works with and advises governments and institutional departments. He also holds research positions in health, exercise and outdoor studies in Europe, UK and Australia.
