Gisela Böhm: "The role of emotions in environmental decisions"

Professor Gisela Böhm, University of Bergen, Norway:
"The role of emotions in environmental decisions"

Zoom link

Abstract:

The public plays an important role in the transition to a sustainable society. Individual decisions and behaviors contribute to societal changes such as the energy transition in manifold ways, for example through domestic energy use and transportation choices, through acceptance of technologies, through purchasing of appliances, goods, and services, and through political support of policy strategies and voting choices in political elections.

This talk takes a psychological perspective and looks at the question of how people evaluate environmental risks and make decisions concerning environmental behavior choices. A special focus will be on the role of emotions in shaping judgments and behaviors. This talk argues that emotions are not homogeneous; different emotions, for example fear versus outrage, play different roles in decision making and have different effects. The kind of emotion we experience reflects how we understand and interpret a situation. Emotions in turn influence behaviors as well as policy preferences. The talk will elaborate how specific emotions and their underlying appraisals matter when explaining environmental decisions.