Upcoming lab events
Lab Meeting: Seungwoong Ha (Santa Fe Institute) // Katie Mason (NYU)
Invited talk // Practice talk for NYU Psych Brown Bag
Lab Meeting: Nick Fendinger (NYU) // Katie Mason (NYU)
Practice talks for NYU Psych Brown Bag
Lab Meeting: Kristian Steensen Nielsen (Copenhagen Business School)
Affiliation: Copenhagen Business School
Lab Meeting: Matthias Hudecek (University of Regensburg)
Research proposal presentation
Lab Meeting: Claudia Schneider (University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand)
Affiliation: University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand
Psychological Science & Society Lecture: Jessica Leifer
Affiliation: Canadian Government
Psychological Science & Society Lecture: Prof. Sara Constantino
Affiliation: Northeastern Public Policy
Psychological Science & Society Lecture: Dr. Jacob Pine
Affiliation: Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bullemia
Psychological Science and Society Lecture: Angelica Hill
Affiliation: The New York Times
Lab Meeting: Ana Sabherwal
Affiliation: London School of Economics
Abstract:
Collective Licensing or Compensation? The Impact of Institutional Climate Inaction on Individual Behaviour
Anandita Sabherwal1, Ganga Shreedhar1, Lorraine Whitmarsh2, Adam Pearson3
1 London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
2 University of Bath, UK
3 Pomona College, CA, USA
When it comes to addressing climate change, many of our institutions seem to be failing us. Evidence of governments’ and corporations’ continued environmental exploitation is rampant. In this research we ask, how do discourses of institutional inaction impact individual pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour? Understanding this psychology is vital because individuals often take cues from institutions that are charged with solving problems at the societal level. And many institutional solutions inherently require people to “do their part” such as adopt energy efficient technologies.
Across three studies, employing both qualitative and quantitative methods (N=2300 UK adults), we find evidence for what we term collective compensation– reflecting on institutional inaction drives individuals to increase their pro-environmental effort. This effect is present among those with low trust in government and explained by their increased sense of personal responsibility. Contrastingly, among conservatives, we observe trends of collective licensing– reflecting on institutional inaction makes them feel licensed or permitted to reduce their efforts.
By assessing the interaction between systemic entities and individual psychology, this research points to the collective nature of the climate crisis and aims to bridge the s-frame – i-frame divide in behavioural science. In the talk, I will discuss potential psychological mechanisms underlying both these effects and invite your input on future directions for this research.
Lab Meeting: Cecilie Traberg
Affiliation: University of Cambridge
Abstract:
Socio-cognitive mechanisms of (mis)information influence: Being influenced, resisting influence and competing for influence
Social influence is a part of everyday human life – we make attempts to influence the judgements, beliefs, and opinions of others, we are influenced ourselves and we actively resist influence. In today’s complex information ecosystem where social information is ubiquitous, our judgements of (mis)information can be influenced by a series of socio-cognitive processes, either due to group dynamics, or through direct influence, coercion, or deception attempts. But how do social influence and group processes interact with the more cognitive process of judgement formation? In this talk, I present a series of experimental and intervention studies on the impact of social influence mechanisms and group dynamics on susceptibility to believing misinformation, how these processes impact the efficacy of so-called psychological ‘vaccines’ against persuasion and finally, some of the strategies individuals use to ‘win’ when they compete for influence.