Selected Publications

What if the biggest obstacle to saving the planet isn’t politics or technology, but the way our brains are wired to think?

Korteling, J. E., Paradies, G. L., & Sassen-van Meer, J. P. (2023). Cognitive bias and how to improve sustainable decision making. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1129835. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1129835

With a creative emotional twist, sparking a sense of warm glow can break through ideological divides and inspire real, lasting green behavior, even when it’s hard.

Jerit, J., Shin, H., & Barabas, J. (2024). Warm glow feelings can promote green behavior. PNAS Nexus, 3, pgae509. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae509

Our feelings of fear, hope, or concern may be the strongest force shaping how we perceive climate change and how we act on it.

Brosch, T. (2021). Affect and emotions as drivers of climate change perception and action: A review. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 42, 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.02.001

A hidden contradiction: while people explicitly say climate change matters, their subconscious tells a different story.

Gong, Y., Wang, S., Li, Y., & Sun, Y. (2023). Discrepant implicit and explicit attitudes toward climate change: Implications for climate change communications. Sustainability Science, 18, 1367–1377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-023-01320-5

Put political bias under the microscope (literally) using eye-tracking to reveal how we not only seek out views that match our own, but actively look away from those we disagree with.

Schmuck, D., Tribastone, M., Matthes, J., Marquart, F., & Bergel, E. M. (2020). Avoiding the other side? An eye-tracking study of selective exposure and selective avoidance effects in response to political advertising. Journal of Media Psychology, 32(3), 158–164. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000265