Seminar 1. Psychological Distance & Sustainability

Wednesday 22nd September 2010

School of Psychology, Cardiff University

Climate change is perceived by individuals to be temporally, spatially, socially, and hypothetically distant. In other words, it is an issue which is seen to affect future generations, other people and remote places (e.g., developing countries), and is uncertain. This psychological distance contributes to a lack of emotional or behavioural engagement with the issue. A major challenge, then, is to make the issue more salient in decision-making. Here, much can be learnt from work on temporal construal, heuristics/biases (availability, optimism, etc.) in risk perception and communication, experiential learning, and from work on future-oriented behaviour in related fields (e.g., economic psychology).

The first workshop of the BPS seminar series Psychology of Sustainability explored these and other aspects of Psychological Distance in the context of climate change and other sustainability issues. The workshop was organised around three themes: (a) Spatial, Temporal & Social Distance; (b) Learning from Other Contexts; and (c) Hypothetical Distance & Uncertainty. In addition, the afternoon session included discussion around development of future, collaborative research.

Programme

10.15am Registration & Coffee.

Room 12.11 (12th floor), School of Psychology (Park Place, Cardiff University: see no. 30 on map)

10.45am Welcome and Introduction.

Dr. Lorraine Whitmarsh (School of Psychology, Cardiff University)

11.00am. Spatial, Temporal and Social Distance.

Flooding experiences may turn the tide on climate change.

Dr. Alexa Spence (Horizon Institute, Nottingham University)

Psychological distance - exploring construal level theory in the context of sustainability.

Dr. Sabine Pahl (School of Psychology, University of Plymouth)

Discussion

12.30pm Buffet Lunch

13.15pm Learning from Other Contexts

Economic psychology, psychological distance and sustainability.

Professor Paul Webley (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)

Discussion

14.15pm Hypothetical Distance and Uncertainty

Climate change discourses of scepticism.

Stuart Capstick (School of Psychology, Cardiff University)

Uncertainty and attitudes towards climate change: biased assimilation but no polarisation.

Dr. Adam Corner (School of Psychology, Cardiff University)

Discussion

15.15pm Tea/Coffee

15.30pm Workshop discussion: Future Research

16.30pm Plenary discussion

Final reflections

Professor Nick Pidgeon (School of Psychology, Cardiff University)

5.00pm Close.

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Seminar 2. Value-Action Gap. Department of Psychology, University of Surrey – 27th January 2011)

Seminar 3. Identity & Communication. Department of Psychology, University of Exeter – TBA (2011)

Further details of seminar 3 will be posted in due course.

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One Day Research Student Conference: Human Behaviour and Climate Change

9:30-5:30pm Tuesday 21st September 2010, School of Psychology, Cardiff University

Conference Organisers: Professor Nick Pidgeon and Dr Lorraine Whitmarsh, Understanding Risk Group, School of Psychology, Cardiff University

Programme

9:40-10:30

Human behaviour and climate change – emerging issues and challenges Part1 Part2, Nick Pidgeon, Understanding Risk Group and School of Psychology, Cardiff University

11:00-12:30

Pathways to action on climate change: how “climate-friendly” practices evolve in individual lives, Sarah Hards, University of York

Lights, camera…action? Stages of behavioural change and the impact of the climate change film The Age of StupidPart1 Part2 Part3, Rachel Howell, University of Edinburgh

Scepticism within public perspectives on climate change: conceptual and methodological issues, Stuart Capstick, Cardiff University

A two country study of support for mitigation and adaptation policies and personal intentions to act, Adrian Bruegger, Exeter University

13:30-15:30

PARALLEL SESSION A – Perceptions and Behaviour

Explaining the effect of visualisations: applying elaborated intrusion theory to environmental psychology, Christine Boomsma, Sabine Pahl and Jackie Andrade, University of Plymouth

Explaining what factors contribute to residential energy consumption in the UK using a structural equation model, Scott Kelly, University of Cambridge

Attractiveness to retail centres – a behaviour-led model for energy use around district and metropolitan centres, Steve Lorimer University College London

Home insulation: going over the top?, Ray Galvin, University of East Anglia

Small-group interaction as a mechanism for environmental norm formation, Christopher C. Duke and Thomas A. Morton University of Exeter

PARALLEL SESSION B – Values and Ethics

Scepticism in climate change and policy-making: identifying appropriate sources of advice for policy-making, Tiago Ribeiro Duarte, Cardiff University

Climate change, instrumentalism and ethics: reading climate change through Zygmunt Bauman’s theses on modernity, Leon Sealey-Huggins, University of Leeds

Wanted! Post-postmodern attitudes, Keith Beasley, Bangor University

What role could fairness play in combating climate change?, Christopher Kukla, Angela Druckman, Tim Jackson, University of Surrey

16:00-17:00

Climate attitudes and behaviours – the importance of rising climate scepticism?, Lorraine Whitmarsh, School of Psychology Cardiff University and Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research