Junior Professorship for Environmental Psychology

Environmental psychology examines the psychological aspects of human-environment relationships. On the one hand, it addresses how human behavior and experience are influenced by the environment. For example, environmental psychologists investigate under what conditions experiences in nature can be relaxing or motivating, or how people perceive environmental destruction. On the other hand, environmental psychology aims to understand when and why people behave in an environmentally protective way and how this behavior can be encouraged. Here, the focus is on decisions regarding one's own lifestyle (e.g., in relation to diet or mobility) as well as on behavior that can support societal transformation processes (e.g., political participation).

The Chair of Environmental Psychology focuses in particular on the question of how our environment needs to be designed to systematically strengthen pro-environmental behavior. To this end, we develop and utilize methods that allow us to examine pro-environmental behavior under controlled conditions (e.g., in the laboratory). Within this approach, we vary potentially relevant environmental factors to analyze how these influence pro-environmental behavior. For example, we can investigate whether people are more likely to behave in an pro-environmental manner when they are being observed by others, when the behavior has a greater impact on the environment, or when the behavior leads to additional benefits. We can also use this method to test potential interventions for promoting pro-environmental behavior in a standardized context.

Through field studies, we translate the insights gained in this way into everyday life. For example, in restaurant settings, we have introduced and evaluated measures to promote the choice of vegetarian dishes or the avoidance of plastic products. In other field experiments, we have focused on reducing energy consumption in private households and promoting pro-environmental behavior in private gardens. In these projects, we often collaborate with researchers from other disciplines and partners from the field.