Jana Köhler

✨️Powerful keynote talk by Prof Audrone Telesiene at #ICEP2025. Key takeaways 'detours' suggested to be addressed:
🌍 global blind spots in data
🌱 research on biodiversity, air pollution, land degradation
👥 Behaviour transformations

Wow, Lorraine, chapeau! Hope you got here ok :)

Addressing climate & ecological breakdown is ultimately a social problem not a technical one

Which means that, for most of us, understanding the psychology of collective climate action is more important than understanding climate science

Free download
www.wandel-werk.org/en/materialien

...Note though that we find that for gluers, people UNDERestimate how many others find gluers radical, so their second-order stereotypes are more positive than is true. You can find the article I mention here: osf.io/preprints/ps...

...it‘s very likely that this makes those who are critical of climate activism appear larger in numbers than they actually are and that this affects sympathisers’ spontaneous opinions.

Thanks, Charlie! We have some other research showing that at least journalistic media (online newspapers) do not report that negatively on climate activists, not even right-leaning outlets. We do find though that user comments are often very negative – so non-journalistic media content. I think...

I know this is a frequently raised criticism of the climate gluers that they target the wrong audience. There is research underway that will look at the targets of protests too and how that affects activist perceptions! :)

doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

7/7 Huge thanks to my co-authors: @sandrajgeiger.bsky.social (@Princeton), Angelika Gellrich (@UBA), Marlene Münsch (@ConPolicy), Mathew White & Sabine Pahl (@envpsyvienna.bsky.social). 🙏

6/7 Bottom line: both public and activists live in a biased social reality. ❗ This matters — stereotypes and their misperceptions can shape climate support and action. 🌏 Scholars and practitioners must address this.

5/7 ❗ Activists misperceived what the public think!
📣 Marchers thought they were seen more negatively by the public than they were.
🤚 Gluers thought they were seen more positively by the public than they were.

4/7 ❗ The public misperceived what the public think!
They overestimated minority stereotypes and underestimated majority ones — showing pluralistic ignorance.

3/7 Street gluers 🤚 were viewed very negatively; street marchers 📣 much more positively. Negative stereotypes were associated with reduced activist support; positive ones with increased support.

2/7 We surveyed 1,002 members of the German public (representative) and 267 climate activists (street marchers 📢 and street gluers 🤚) about climate activist stereotypes: reasonable, radical, annoying, brave.

1/7 🧵 We live in a biased social reality! 🤯

🚨 NEW PAPER: Climate activist stereotypes among the German public and German climate activists.

My 1st PhD paper 🤩 in collaboration with @umweltbundesamt.bsky.social

2/7 We surveyed 1,002 members of the German public (representative) and 267 climate activists (street marchers 📢 and street gluers 🤚) about climate activist stereotypes: reasonable, radical, annoying, brave.

‘Spiral of silence’: climate action is very popular, so why don’t people realise it? Researchers find 89% of people around the world want more to be done, but mistakenly assume their peers do not

People underestimate how strong support for #ClimateAction is

Great piece in @theguardian.com
including @envpsyvienna.bsky.social's (now Dr.) @sandrajgeiger.bsky.social 👇

#EnvironmentalPsychology

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

NEW PREPRINT! 🚨 Do radical climate activists help or harm the climate movement? 🤝👊 Check out our work on radical flank effects in German news media, led by @lukasmayrhofer.bsky.social!

It is so important to stand up for science! Make sure not just to go to marches like this one, but to communicate your research to the public whenever you get the chance! 📣💬 People are listening! 👂🦻

It was great to hang out with these amazing colleagues and exchange about our research, current and future 🪐🌳 Can't wait to see all the cool developments when we meet again at ICEP in Vilnius! 🔎

It's been an amazing year 2024 with the lovely people from @envpsyvienna.bsky.social and I am looking forward to 2025 💚