RESEARCH THEMES AND INTERESTS
Understanding the Causes of and Solutions to Pluralistic Ignorance
In democratic societies, collective action issues such as global climate change are inherently issues of democracy - they require individuals to coordinate action with one another in the service of achieving collective solutions and diffusing new behavioral norms. A variety of recent research suggests that such processes greatly benefit from individuals actively perceiving what others are doing and feeling. Yet, our recent work suggests that most Americans underestimate the percentage of fellow citizens who are concerned about climate change and support transformative policies by nearly half - a phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance.
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In our current NSF-funded work, we seek to explore why our perceptions of others' opinions on climate change are so far off from reality, and how these opinion misperceptions can be most effectively corrected. The hope is to develop methods of empowering people to more effectively participate in the democratic process by providing them with important social information on climate change and other topics in which opinion misperceptions are widespread.
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We Need to Talk
Dealing with global and complex collective action issues like climate change require extensive discussion in the public forum. Yet, polling data suggests that few regularly discuss climate change.
During my PhD program at Penn State University, I worked with Janet Swim, Knology, the National Network for Oceanographic and Climate Change Interpretation to develop and evaluate methods of inspiring public engagement with climate change. Results of our published research is being used to improve climate change communication techniques at over 100 aquariums, zoos, and national parks around the country, focusing on developing communication messages that audiences can easily recall and share with others after their visit, thus ideally creating a national shift in the public conversation.
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In recent work, I am further exploring some of the key themes that emerged from this earlier work, examining how feelings related to such conversations, expectations of how a conversation is likely to go (whether inaccurate or accurate), and perceptions of feeling socially supported guide individuals' willingness to converse with others about these important societal topics.
Emotional Motivators of Climate Action
I am interested in how emotional responses to climate change motivate or demotivate action. In particular, much of my recent and emerging work is grounded in affective science principles and examines how contextual information and boundary conditions influence links between specific feelings and engagement or disengagement. For example, I examine the conditions under which hope is likely to assuage negativity but not promote action (i.e., emotion-focused coping) as compared to the conditions in which hope is likely to act as a direct motivator of taking action (i.e. problem-focused coping).
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Climate Change-Driven Migration
Climate change is a "wicked problem" of which causes and impacts are far-reaching and interrelate with virtually every other complex societal issue. One emerging topic that is receiving increasing news coverage is climate change-driven migration. Yet, research on public opinion on this topic and response to messaging around this topic is very limited. Will the increased salience of this topic lead to empathic responses toward migrants facing difficult choices or lead to an emergence of "eco-fascism"? In current work, we explore public responses to this emerging topic and seek to understand how interventions can promote constructive societal responses.