2025

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.