DSOC 27A22 - Psychology and the Sustainable Transition

Humanity is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis for which it is the main driving force. Scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change often express a concern that we may be approaching a tipping point for climate-induced events: a threshold beyond which it will no longer be possible to go back. This prospect does not breed optimism and hardly encourages action. Yet, people can counteract these dramatic changes, not only as consumers by reducing their carbon footprint, but also through their roles as investors, employees, community members, influencers, and citizens. Although globally, people report high levels of concern for climate change and a high willingness to act, this concern is often not reflected in people’s actual behavior. What can explain this gap between people’s reported desire to protect the environment and the lack of collective action around the environmental crises?

Many factors can act as barriers to climate action, such as people’s tendency to favor short-term outcomes over long-term outcomes, the tension between seeking a high social status and reducing one’s carbon footprint, the feeling that it may be too late to act, or the feeling that taking action is only worth it if others are also taking action. By understanding these psychological and social barriers to climate action, policymakers and community leaders can pave the way for effective collective action.

In this course, I will present and discuss works in cognitive science, psychology, and behavioral economics that aim to provide a better understanding of the obstacles to a shift toward a more sustainable society and identify levers that have been tried and tested in public policy.

Academic expectations

This course will provide students with basic notions of cognitive psychology and will give them an overview of the behavioral science literature linked to sustainability. It will also aim to enhance their critical thinking through class discussions. On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

Understand basic concepts about human psychology and how it affects decision-making and behavior;

Identify the psychological barriers at play in different environmental contexts;

Suggest and test solutions for promoting both individual and collective pro-environmental actions

Every class begins with a one-hour lecture, which includes Q&A, and a one-hour activity session during which students work collaboratively on the class contents.

Students will be graded on:

• Weekly quiz completion (10%). Weekly quizzes will be read and graded only if they are sent at least 1 hour before the next course.
• Mid-term exam (30%). This is an in-class, closed book exam.
• Group presentation (30%). Students will make presentations of academic papers in small groups.
• Mini research project (30%). Each student will propose to study a specific behavior by identifying potential psychological barriers to action and developing an intervention to motivate action.