Entry requirements
This course is open to all students of the Master’s programme Psychology and the Research Master’s programme Psychology.
Description
Climate change and ecological degradation is the biggest challenge facing our planet and its inhabitants. It has been directly caused by us - yet, it is a challenge that humans are struggling to address individually and collectively. This course explains the history, causes and consequences of the climate crisis, traces the psychological and behavioral reasons behind our struggles to address it, and motivates individual and collective action.
This course leverages multidisciplinary perspectives on human psychology to answer three big-picture questions:
How did we get here? What is it about human thought and behavior that has led to the current climate and ecological crisis?
What does it do to us? How do the climate and ecological crises affecting human (mental) health, behavior, and well-being, and how will it affect us in the future?
What do we do now? How can we leverage our understanding of human thought and behavior to address this crisis at multiple levels of our society?
Lecture topics:
Climate science, causes and impacts of anthropogenic global warming
Skepticism, belief and misinformation
Risk perception, heuristics and biases
Mental health and climate anxiety
Behavior change
Collective action, group dynamics and social tipping points
Course objectives
After completion of this course, students will be able to:
Explain the psychological and behavioral roots of the climate crisis from a number of psychological perspectives, including cognitive heuristics and biases, misinformation, and political and social dynamics;
Describe how the climate crisis affect human (mental) health, behavior, and well-being, and describe strategies to mitigate these effects;
Critically evaluate how human thought, emotion, and behavior can be changed - for better and worse;
Apply knowledge of human psychology to create communication materials that motivate sustainability action.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
Education
Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of the course.
Exams
You must register for each exam in My Studymap at least 10 days before the exam date. You cannot take an exam without a valid registration in My Studymap. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Exchange students and external guest students will be informed by the education administration about the current registration procedure.
Mode of instruction
The course consists of seven two-hour lectures. These include workshops by external experts in behavior change, policy, communication or mental health. In doing so, this course will enable students to apply psychological insight to effect real-world social and policy changes for a sustainable future.
Assessment method
- Communication project (30%, in small groups): Students will create psychologically informed, evidence-based sustainability communications for a general public, including a referenced summary of research used to both formulate the message and communicate it effectively. . If students resit their communication project after receiving feedback, the maximum grade is 6.0.
- Exam (70%, individual): Covering lecture- and homework materials. Information about the exam review will be communicated on Brightspace after publication of the exam results.
The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. All students are required to take and pass the Scientific Integrity Test with a score of 100% in order to learn about the practice of integrity in scientific writing. Students are given access to the quiz via a module on Brightspace. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.
Reading list
Exact reading materials will be announced on BrightSpace. Example materials:
Adam Aron. (2023). The Climate Crisis: Science, Impacts, Policy, Psychology, Justice, Social Movements. Cambridge University Press. Available online through the university library.
Paul Behrens. (2020). The best of times, the worst of times: futures from the frontiers of climate science. The Indigo Press.
Contact information
Anne E. Urai climate-psychology@fsw.leidenuniv.nl