Climate seminars

Description of the talk: As climate change accelerates, so do warnings about its toll on mental health – but how much do we really know? This talk takes a critical look at the global evidence. 

Despite the roots of the climate crisis in modernism, positivism and individualism, environmental psychology research is still nowadays dominated by quantitative approaches that perpetuate that legacy. In this seminar, Susana will discuss a bit of this history, speculate about its reasons and propose ways forward to create an environmental psychology that can still be qualitative and, through that, combat climate change.

Why do people oppose environmental policies, even when they increase overall welfare? This talk explores insights from lab experiments designed to understand public attitudes towards environmental policy. By testing taxes, subsidies, and regulations in controlled settings, we show how information, experience and perceptions of fairness and effectiveness shape policy attitudes. The findings highlight behavioral mechanisms behind policy opposition and offer lessons for more effective environmental policy design.

This talk provides an introduction to the topic of climate change and psychology. The following questions are addressed: 1) Why is climate change related to psychology?, 2) What is environmental and climate psychology?, and 3) How is research in social and environmental psychology used to understand and predict risk perceptions, beliefs, and behavioral responses to climate change?

Uncertainty is inherent in decision-making, but recent political upheavals and the climate crisis have made it central. This talk explores the dilemma of expressing uncertainty: While transparency is ideal, politicians and decision makers may fear appearing incompetent or ignorant. I review recent research on social and reputational factors influencing expressions of (un)certainty, and how people comprehend and respond to uncertainty.

This talk examines the biological and cultural origins of nature preferences, integrating insights from environmental neuroscience — particularly human electrophysiology — and psychological research. It explores how innate neural mechanisms, evolutionary predispositions, and cultural experiences shape human affinity for natural environments. Additionally, the talk briefly considers how this affinity influences climate engagement and environmentally conscious behaviors.

Since 2019, the term climate anxiety has increasingly appeared in the academic literature and popular discourse, coinciding with the uprise of youth climate activism. In this talk, I will present results from a survey investigating public perceptions of and reactions to the term and discuss potential explanations for the findings. Knowledge of how people perceive psychological buzzwords, such as climate anxiety, is important because it could influence their willingness to self-report this state, their views of the people associated with it, and how they believe society should respond to them.

This seminar focuses on political representation in climate and energy politics, particularly representation by non-state actors such as climate activists, environmental interest groups, and experts. It also addresses the potential for these representatives to gain citizens’ acceptance, also known as legitimacy, without the use of elections. 

Include is a social science research center that aims to produce critical knowledge on how to achieve a socially inclusive and just energy, climate, and environmental transformation.

Åshild Lappegard Hauge will present and discuss theories about why people prefer natural environments and the effects of nature on us. Furthermore, she will explore biophilic design and showcase examples of how nature can be incorporated into architecture. Lastly, she will reflect on how research and theories on environmental preferences relate to the Architectural Uproar (arkitekturopprøret) and the dissatisfaction people often feel with new architecture.

This seminar is designed to elucidate the essential intersection between academic equity and climate justice, emphasizing the vital contribution of psychological insights in formulating strategies that are not only efficacious but also inclusive and equitable.

His research focuses on the motivations and social processes that predict environmental behaviors such as reducing meat consumption, flying, voting, and protesting. He will talk about public opinion on climate change and recent advances in measuring and conceptualizing pro-environmental behavior. Most previous studies assumed that pro-environmental behavior is a coherent psychological variable, but recent work suggests behaviors are external, diverse, and have different causes. He will also share a resource of free, open datasets and promote the diamond open-access journal Global Environmental Psychology (free for authors and readers).

It is widely acknowledged that climate change has significant implications for species diversity, natural resources, wind patterns, and weather conditions. However, the true extent of climate change's impact on us, as psychologists, and the individuals we assist, remains a pertinent question. In this lecture, we will explore how the climate crisis influences the mental well-being and daily lives of psychologists.

The lecture will be delivered by Tuva Bræin, who serves as the Chair of the Climate Committee within the Norwegian Psychological Association. Tuva holds a professional background as a trained psychologist and has authored a master's thesis and professional articles addressing psychological barriers related to climate change acceptance. Currently, she is employed as a clinical psychologist at the General Psychiatric Section at Søndre Oslo DPS.

Excessive meat consumption in affluent societies is a core global sustainability challenge. But meat consumption patterns prove very difficult to change. In Norway, where meat is a highly contested and polarising topic, increasing shares of the population are onboard with the idea of reducingtheir meat intake. Yet consumption levels do not decrease. In this talk, Arve Hansen discusses why meat consumption patterns in Norway are so stubborn, taking the experiences of active meat reducers as a main starting point. In doing so, he discusses both psychological and socio-material approaches to (changing) meat consumption. The talk draws on findings from the project MEATigation, which among other things has resulted in a special issue on meat and a paper on the Norwegian pølse.

You can find the slides from the seminar here

Christian Klöckner is a professor of social psychology (2010) and quantitative methods at NTNU (2012). Previously, he studied and obtained a Ph.D. in psychology with a specialization in environmental psychology at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany (1992-1999, 2001-2005). Since 2011, he has been a research leader at the Department of Psychology at NTNU and is part of the research group "Consumption, environment, and traffic"

Climate spillover effects from large scale infrastructure changes. 

Aslak Fyhri is a writer and researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics. He has dr. philos degree in environmental psychology, and has been the editor of one of the few Norwegian book publications on this subject. He has been featured in the media for his research into cycling, especially electric bikes.

As climate change, habitat loss, and extinction of species go from bad to worse, it seems that politics, ethics, and business-usual combine to reinforce the multiple crises rather than slow, let alone stop them. This being so, is it necessary, or even imperative, to seek alternatives? If so, how radical should they be? Do groups like Extinction Rebellion point in the right direction? And what are the pitfalls?