Wilhelm Hofmann

Wondering about how to promote healthy eating in daily life? New research reveals it's not just about willpower, but about which strategy you use, and what you target. 1/9

Vacancy — Assistant Professor in Political Science The Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam invites applications for one and possibly two tenure-track Assistant Professor (Universitair Docent) positions in Political Science w...

At the Department of Political Science (University of Amsterdam, @uva-fmg.bsky.social), we are looking for a new Assistant Professor to join our team. Interested? You can find all details and apply here: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies....

Im Bundeskanzleramt zeigte sich beim Behavioural Insights Connect: Wenn Wissenschaft & Politik in den Dialog treten, entstehen neue Wege, um Demokratie wirksam & erfahrbar zu machen. Unsere Policy Ultra Briefs sollen dabei einen nachhaltigen Beitrag zur evidenzbasierten Politikgestaltung leisten. 💬

Für Klimaschutz & Austausch: Die DGPs zeigt in einer neuen Handreichung, wie Veranstaltungen nachhaltig gelingen – von Mobilität über Verpflegung bis Abfallreduktion. Präsenz & Ökologie im Einklang 👉 www.dgps.de/schwerpunkte...

Happy thanks to everyone joining and contributing to #FGSP2025 and safe travels back👋, we hope you had a stimulating time! And thanks so much to @olivergenschow.bsky.social and colleagues at @leuphana.bsky.social for organizing the next biannual meeting🙏 - looking forward to #FGSP2027!

Welcome to Bochum everyone! 🩷 We’re thrilled to see so many of you at the 19th conference of the Social Psychology Section — ready to share ideas, connect, and maybe even fall in love with a little brutalist concrete charm 🧱✨ #FGSP2025

SHIFT

We always get asked, "What can I *personally* do to help address climate change?"

Sadly, there hasn't been a very good answer to this question. Previous guides often treated people as monoliths, giving them a one-size-fits-all answer.

But that's changed now. Enter SHIFT.

jointheshift.earth

We are getting ready for 3 days of #FGSP2025 at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de with > 300 contributions! looking forward to learning about the latest research in social psych - safe travels to Bochum everyone!🚄

Review alert 🚨 What motivates collective action for the environment? 🔎🌍

We reviewed 27 publications to identify the proximal predictors of environmental collective action.

Here are our key findings:

We're hiring TWO social psychologists (one health, one any area of social) at U of Utah! Pls share widely, and reach out if you have any questions! utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/186...

📢Öffentliches Wissenschaftsevent @ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Psychologische Einblicke in Verschwörungserzählungen
Mit @rolandimhoff.bsky.social, @pialamberty.bsky.social, @lpummerer.bsky.social, @tobiasrothmund.bsky.social & Bianca Liebrand
Bergbau-Museum Bochum
14.9.25, 18:00
Tickets: 5€ tinylink.net/VbOF9

Doctoral Researcher (m,f,x)

🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨
The Social&Environmental Psychology Group @ruhr-uni-bochum.de is recruiting 2 PhDs and 1 Postdoc
as part of the ERC-funded SUSCON project on sustainable consumption.

Details here:

PhDs:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/7...

Postdoc:👉 jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/e...

Rethinking behaviour change interventions in policymaking Nature Human Behaviour - Behaviour change interventions that are unsuccessful may often be limited by structural constraints. Accumulating evidence across contexts helps to diagnose these barriers....

🙌Big thanks to an amazing team: @corneliabetsch.bsky.social, @robertboehm.bsky.social, Denise de Ridder, Stefan Drews, @bewert.bsky.social, Ralph Hertwig, @fsniehotta.bsky.social, & Jutta Mata

full-text view-only-link here: rdcu.be/ex8hR

Accordingly, we advocate for a broader role for behavioral science in public policy - a role that also includes diagnosing structural constraints, co-designing structural solutions, and helping overcome barriers to structural policy support.

Fig. 1 | A comparison of success-focused and holistic interpretations for behavioural intervention outcomes as a function of the magnitude of underlying structural constraints

We propose a more holistic view-one that recognizes the diagnostic potential and policy relevance of unsuccessful behavioral interventions. When behavior change fails despite good design, it often points to deeper structural constraints. These failures may justify stronger, systemic policy measures.

Igniting a fire in a wet environment is hard, isn't it? 🔥🌧️

Likewise, even the best-designed interventions struggle in everyday settings where choice environments are structurally misaligned with policy goals, such as in areas like reducing obesity or carbon emissions.

Comment: Rethinking behavior change interventions in policymaking

📢 New commentary out today in Nature Human Behaviour!
We argue that behavior change interventions often suffer from a one-sided success focus. But failures may reveal structural barriers people face.

🔗 rdcu.be/ex8hR

#BehavioralScience #PublicPolicy

📣Wisskomm-Interessierte in Bochum und Umgebung aufgepasst: dieses öffentliche Wissenschafts-Event zu Verschwörungserzählungen im Rahmen der Fachgruppentagung Sozialpsychologie solltet ihr euch nicht entgehen lassen! #FGSP2025

🪧New Preprint led by @saschakuhn.bsky.social on the connection between climate policy support and macro- (country-level) variation in e.g., economic freedom, per capita emissions, income inequality, and climate vulnerability, building on data from the Many Labs Climate Project!

10 days left to apply to join #HPGVienna @univie.ac.at ⬇️ perfect position for a post-PhD ambulatory assessment/ ecological momentary assessment resesrcher with an interest in determinants of health behaviours and #digitalhealth! #PsychJobs #HealthPsych #BehSci #AcademicSky

Schade, dass wir uns mehr Klimaschutz nicht leisten können, weil dafür muss erst die Wirtschaft laufen, und die läuft halt nicht so gut, unter anderem, weil es mit dem Klima nicht so läuft.

Das Deutschlandticket ist für viele junge Menschen zu teuer geworden – das zeigt der deutliche Rückgang bei den Abo-Zahlen.

Dabei war das Ticket ein großer Erfolg: Es hat Bus und Bahn auch für Auszubildende, Studierende und Menschen mit geringem Einkommen bezahlbar gemacht.

(1/3)

Jointly with fabulous Timur Sevincer, Luisa Hostlowsky, and Fenja Styhler from Leuphana University Lüneburg

📝 preprint: osf.io/preprints/os...

We hope these findings inform efforts to close the perception–policy gap in climate governance.

#ClimatePolicy #BehavioralScience #PluralisticIgnorance

Why this matters:

Political decision-making is often shaped by perceived public opinion.

When policymakers underestimate public support for climate action - that is, they misread the “signal” - ambitious climate policies are less likely to be proposed or championed.

Acceptance of Taxes and Laws

Willingness to contribute 1% of income

Key Findings:

Citizens underestimate how much others support climate action, replicating earlier work on pluralistic ignorance✅

👉 but: Politicians show even greater underestimation (particularly regarding people's support for taxes, laws, and also their willingness to contribute 1% of income).

🏛️Finally, we asked >1,500 policymakers from Germany - from the federal, state, and municipal levels - the same question regarding their perceived support.

This allowed us to compare:
1️⃣Actual public support with
2️⃣Citizens' estimates of public support and
3️⃣Policymakers’ estimates of public support

What did we do?

First, we collected representative data on citizens' actual support for various policy measures (information, taxes, laws) to combat climate change.🌍

To test for pluralistic ignorance, we then asked these same citizens how much support they think there is for such measures.

🪧New preprint out:

"Politicians underestimate support for climate action even more than the general public"

osf.io/preprints/os...

Pluralistic ignorance - citizens underestimating others' climate concerns - is well documented.

But what about policymakers in office?🏛️🤔

A short thread 🧵

Thumbnail BPK Panel

Wir haben 1.014 Bürgergeldbeziehende befragt – als Gegengewicht zu einer Politik, die lieber über statt mit Menschen spricht. Die Ergebnisse haben wir heute auf der BPK vorgestellt. Hier geht es zur Aufzeichnungen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck_t...