Decision making, environmental psychology and economic psychology
Decision-making, environmental, economic, and political psychology are summarized in a more comprehensive social psychology that, through different areas of research, seeks knowledge with relevance for understanding important societal problems and their solutions.
Research areas
Decision making is part of everything we do. Decisions are made individually, in groups, and at the organizational level, and the quality of our decisions can have large consequences for ourselves and for society. Psychological research on judgment and decision making studies how we choose among different options and how we judge probability and risk.
Environmental psychology investigates psychological processes associated with how humans affect the environment, but also how humans are affected by their physical surroundings. Issues include how, when, and why people take action with regards to sustainable resource management and lifestyle, with consequences on, for example, consumption and transport. Another question is how environmentally friendly behaviour and behavioural change relates to the wellbeing of the environment, animals, and humans.
Economic psychology studies how people consume, invest, and save, but also how economic factors contribute to wellbeing.
Political psychology focuses on issues such as ideological polarisation, and decision making among political actors and voters. Another question is why people (do not) accept political measures to tackle climate change (for example carbon tax).
The University has a tradition of societal engagement and collaborates with many partners outside academia. One such partner is media. Through our contacts with media, we have the opportunity to inform the general public about our research results. Our research always aims to benefit the public.
Researchers
Lars-Olof Johansson, Professor
Social justice, moral choice, environmental behaviour, resource assessments
Cecilia J Bergstad, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Motivation, Attitudes, attitude change, norms, behavioral change, acceptability of environmental policies, sustainable transportation and mobility, well-being
Martin Hedesström, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Judgement and decision making, nudging, economic psychology, stock market psychology
Andreas Nilsson, Professor
Attitudes, attitude change, norms, behavioral change, policies
André Hansla, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Attitudes, judgements, risk taking, scarcity
Niklas Fransson, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Psychology of music, morality, social psychology
Sandra Buratti, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Assessments and decisions in relation to knowledge and memory; styles of decision making; stress; the psychology of ageing
Chris von Borgstede, Senior lecturer/Associate professor
Attitudes, attitude change, norms, behavioral change, sustainable energy behaviours
Carl-Christian Trönnberg, Senior lecturer
Collective intelligence in agile teams
Magnus Bergquist, Researcher/lecturer
Behavioral change, Interventions, social norms, social influence, meta-analysis
Pär Bjälkebring, Senior lecturer
The interplay of affect and deliberation in judgements and decision-making
Sofiia Skipor, Doctoral student