Sandra Geiger

Results from study of mental health in 92 countries (n>53,000): People are not doing well.

- U-shape for age is gone: Young adults lowest health, highest illness
- Education still matters (a lot)
- 45% of older people live alone
- Hybrid work > 100% remote or in-person

Preprint: osf.io/3jyda_v1

Help us strengthen trust in climate scientists in the US! Join our megastudy 👇

Forschung gegen gefühlte Wahrheit Die Deutschen haben keineswegs die Nase voll vom Klimaschutz Eine Kolumne von Christian Stöcker Niemand interessiert sich mehr für die größte aller Krisen? Falsch. Das zeigen Forschungsdaten ebenso wie ein Erlebnis in meinem Motorradunterricht.

Dass "die Leute interessieren sich nicht für die Klimakrise" ein sehr erfolgreiches Stück Meta-Desinformation ist, zeigt übrigens nicht nur der Hamburger #Zukunftsentscheid. Die (nationale wie globale) Studienlage ist völlig eindeutig.Die Leute wissen, was los ist (Text von Juli)

Vacancy — PhD Position: "When Lies Take Root: Investigating the Impact of Misinformation on Those at Risk" Are you motivated to protect those most vulnerable against misinformation and to develop new interventions against misinformation? Do you want to know more about how mis- and disinformation impact at-...

If you're looking to do a PhD on a timely subject, I'm on the advisory board of a cool new project; "When Lies Take Root: Investigating the Impact of Misinformation on Those at Risk" at the top-ranked Amsterdam School of Communication Research/

Do share & apply: werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Writing the post with Carya was one of the most enjoyable things I did this year for work. We had a lot of fun and hope you enjoy reading it just as much.

🔗 spsp.org/news/charact... (blog) & journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.... (study)

#sustainability #psychology #BehavioralScience #BehaviorChange

💡Why? A single message isn’t enough. People need to hear it from many others—like you. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬: 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲. One that can be louder, more visible, and more connected. And that shift, from silence to solidarity, is exactly what the climate movement needs right now.

🌱 To test whether breaking this illusion can spark #action, we told half of our participants that 71–88% of their fellow citizens believe climate change is real and humans are responsible. Hearing this didn’t immediately make people more willing to change their lifestyle or support climate action.

🌏 Everywhere we looked, the same pattern emerged: a collective illusion where climate believers think they’re swimming against the tide when in fact they’re riding the wave. The real misunderstanding isn’t about the facts or hard science—it’s the belief that people are divided on the issue.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

In our @spspnews.bsky.social blog post, we write about collective illusions.

We asked people in 11 countries what they personally thought about #climate change and what they believed others thought.

Pro-Climate Sentiments Are More Common Than You Think A new study highlights how people around the world often overestimate climate skepticism and presents ways to push back on this misperception.

A new study published in Psychological Science, by @sandrajgeiger.bsky.social from @acee.princeton.edu, highlights how people around the world often overestimate climate skepticism and presents ways to push back on this misperception. #ClimateChange

“Prompting people to actively notice birdsong, plant textures and smells can significantly improve wellbeing…”

Interesting study that suggests simple and small interventions, eg signage, that encourage people to notice nature can boost people’s wellbeing.

Open access article below.

🦋🌱 Most people care about #biodiversity, yet we often underestimate how concerned others are about its loss. This “pluralistic ignorance” can silence people, weaken action, and make ambitious policies seem less popular.

In a new paper, we outline a research agenda to study and reduce this gap (1/2)

Understanding the role of pluralistic ignorance in biodiversity conservation: A research agenda Most people believe that biodiversity loss is human-caused, yet they may not realize how many others share this belief. Such collective misperceptions…

@hirotakaimada.bsky.social, Carya Maharja, Nattavudh Powdthavee, Valeria Vitale, @lei-zhang.bsky.social, Claudio Rosa, Zenith Delabrida, @kristiansn89.bsky.social, @franzessl1.bsky.social, Mathew White, @envpsyvienna.bsky.social, @acee.princeton.edu

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🌱 Our hope: By making biodiversity conservation efforts more visible, we can shift norms and inspire both individual and systemic action to protect and restore biodiversity worldwide.

1️⃣ Identify where and among whom these misperceptions arise
2️⃣ Understand how they affect conservation action and policy, with case studies from Brazil to Japan
3️⃣ Test interventions that make shared agreement visible and reduce misperceptions

Understanding the role of pluralistic ignorance in biodiversity conservation: A research agenda Most people believe that biodiversity loss is human-caused, yet they may not realize how many others share this belief. Such collective misperceptions…

🌏 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

It’s not that people doubt biodiversity is declining—it’s that we underestimate how many others already share this concern.

In our new Perspective, we review work on pluralistic ignorance and set out a research agenda to:

The Covering Climate Now Academy Journalists from around the world can explore key climate topics together.

Climate change is the defining story of our time, and journalists everywhere need the tools to cover it with depth, accuracy, and impact. That’s why we're offering journalists a free, live, online training program designed to support them in telling stronger climate stories. Apply by Sept. 8.

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...

Please welcome @brittwray.bsky.social to Bluesky. She studies the rise of climate distress and how to channel it for action and resilience - and is the newest addition to my starter pack of folks who study, write and speak on the intersection of mental health and the climate crisis! More here:

Thanks @janakoehler.bsky.social for leading this excellent work! 🪧🌎🔥

In two studies, we find that:

1️⃣ the German public misperceives what the public thinks about climate activists.

2️⃣ marchers/gluers think they are perceived more negatively/positively by the public than they actually are.

Climate journalists broke a big story during Earth Week with the launch of The 89 Percent Project: Between 80% and 89% of people around the world want their governments to do more on climate change, but, critically, this overwhelming majority doesn't realize its the majority.

1/8 🧠 New study out! We analyzed data from 10,000+ people across 26 countries on trust in climate scientists — and how political ideology shapes it. Here’s what we found ⬇️ #ClimatePsychology #TrustInScience
🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

Seeking a wide range of perspectives from stakeholders involved in, or impacted by, the clean energy transition, including project developers, labor organizations, educators, financiers, policymakers, and local community members!

Learn more & join the survey here: netzerostakeholder.princeton.edu

24 HOURS OF POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE 2026 24 HOURS OF POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE 2026

🎉We're back! 24 hours of Political Psychology is once again coming to Vienna - save the dates: 26 / 27 February 2026

▶️ Abstract submission is OPEN - find the link & further information here: 24hpolpsy.univie.ac.at

Very excited to co-host with @markuswagner.bsky.social and @isabellareb.bsky.social

Thanks for sharing, Sabine 😊

‘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/...

🌍 We are launching a new #ManyLabs!!! Join the Heat & Cognition project! We're studying how extreme heat affects human thinking, social behavior & well-being — globally.
Contribute & co-author:
🔗 Info: heatandmind.wordpress.com
📋 Sign up: www.soscisurvey.de/HeatandCogni...
#EnvironmentalPsychology

Join us for this year's jSchool on the psychology of decision-making 🧠🌿⚖️🗳️

Come join us for our Lunch & Learn webinar on Monday March 24 about delivering net zero by 2050! 🔋⚡️

How can we improve public attitudes towards contested science domains? In a new paper featuring 4 highly-powered experiments (3 preregistered), we show that psychological closeness (vs. distance) can help!

The paper is published OA in the Journal of Social Issues: lnkd.in/dFN8_8KA