The Psychology of Climate Change
This lecture will explore the evidence for our changing environment, and suggest that there are significant cognitive biases in how we think about, and act on climate change. It will examine how organisations have attempted to mobilise the public in the fight against climate change, but these initiatives have often failed due to the public’s unwillingness to adapt their behaviour.
The talk will also explore why some people deny climate change altogether, and the influence that these climate change deniers can have on global action to mitigate further damage. By analysing our attitudes to the environment, Professor Beattie will argue that we must think differently about climate change to protect our planet, as a matter of great urgency.
Reading Recommendations:
- Beattie, G. (2018) The Psychology of Climate Change. Routledge: London
- Beattie, G. (2018) The Conflicted Mind. And Why Psychology Has Failed to Deal With It. Routledge: London.
- Beattie, G. (2018). Optimism bias and climate change. The British Academy Review, 33, 12 – 15.
- Beattie, G., Marselle, M., McGuire, L., & Litchfield, D. (2017). Staying over-optimistic about the future: Uncovering attentional biases to climate change messages. Semiotica, 218, 22-64.
- Beattie, G. & McGuire, L. (2015). Harnessing the unconscious mind of the consumer: How implicit attitudes predict pre-conscious visual attention to carbon footprint information on products. Semiotica, 204, 253-290.
- Beattie, G. (2010). Why Aren’t We Saving the Planet? A Psychologist’s Perspective. Routledge: London.
About the Speaker:
Professor Geoffrey Beattie, PhD
Professor Geoffrey Beattie, PhD, is an internationally acclaimed psychologist, author and broadcaster. He is Professor of Psychology at Edge Hill University and in recent years a Masters supervisor on the Sustainability Leadership Programme at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was Professor of Psychology at the University of Manchester from 1994-2012.
He was awarded the Spearman Medal by the British Psychological Society for ‘published psychological research of outstanding merit’ and the internationally acclaimed Mouton d’Or for his work in semiotics. He is both a Chartered Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an ex-President of the Psychology Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (B.A.). You can learn more about his work at: www.geoffbeattie.com/.
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Next Event:
- University of Greenwich, London
- 18/12/2022
