Here are is an overview of some of the projects I am currently working on:
International Collaboration to Understand
Climate Action
Dr. Madalina Vlasceanu, Prof. Jay J. Van Bavel and myself are currently conducting another Many-Labs-International-Study, in which we are comparing interventions aimed at stimulating collective action against climate change. Find out more about the project here.
Investigating the neural mechanisms of both sustainable and unsustainable behaviors
This is a large scale project that is being conducted in collaboration with Prof. Tobias Brosch at the University of Geneva.
Can environmental neuroscience contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying un/sustainable behavior?
Understanding how and why people commit different types of environmental behaviors is one of the largest goals for researchers in environmental psychology. Here, we aimed to utilize an interdisciplinary, multi-method approach which combined neuroimaging (i.e. functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI]), and a novel field-based experience sampling study to predict real-world environmental behaviors. When predicting both sustainable and unsustainable behaviors, implicit neuroimaging data was a better predictor of real-world behavior compared to multiple psychological antecedents. This work highlights the utility of functional neuroimaging in this domain.
(This work is not yet published, but please stay tuned!).
From Groups to Green: Social Identity Processes Motivate Pro-environmentalism
This project is being conducted in collaboration with Prof. Jay Van Bavel at New York University
Human beings are highly social creatures, and as such our perceptions, motivations, and behaviors are often influenced by the groups we identify with. This projects aims to harness such group-based processes to encourage people to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors. Specifically, we are attempting to strengthen relevant environmental identities, and determine how it impacts future intentions and behaviors.
(This project is currently ongoing, but please stay tuned!).