About
I study how social motivations affect people’s beliefs and behaviors, especially those related to climate change. Current research activities:
Belief Superiority
People sometimes feel that their beliefs are superior to alternatives. Who tends to feel superior about their beliefs? How does this affect their willingness to consider alternative options? What does this mean for their ability to get along with others or compromise? Do some people feel superior about all their beliefs or do people only feel superior about some types of beliefs?
Social Comparisons and Reputation Management
Can people be motivated to improve their climate-relevant behavior if they think their peers are already acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? What if they think other people could learn about their own climate-damaging behavior? What if the people who will care the most about climate change aren’t even born yet – can concerns about one’s reputational legacy promote climate change action?
Behavioral and Policy Spillover
What happens if you successfully get people to change one environmental behavior? What does that mean for other behaviors? Are people more likely to take on new environmental action if they’ve gotten a taste for doing one new behavior? Or do they feel like they are off the hook after doing the first behavior? What about policies? If you talk about climate change adapation or carbon dioxide removal, does that make people feel like they don’t need to engage in climate change mitigation?
