Seminar Félice van Nunspeet: Moral concerns and environmental care: from fundamental lab research to applied studies examining (the underlying mechanisms of) people’s willingness to act sustainably

My research is focused on the role of morality in social perception and behavior regulation, and I aim to provide insights in the more fundamental psychological processes associated with (im)moral behavior to complement applied research on policy and public engagement.

Being (perceived as) moral is important for people’s self-view and their social identity. Moral concerns and motives may drive whether and why people adhere to social norms, how they view superior exemplars, or how they respond when being criticized. However, people may not always be able or willing to reflect on such processes, which is why I complement the use of self-report data with (explicit or implicit) behavioral measures and examine the mechanisms underlying behavior with psychophysiological or neuroscientific research methods (e.g., measurement of heart rate and blood pressure, or event-related brain potentials).

In this talk, I will focus on the research we do in which moral behavior relates to the topic of sustainability and environmental behavior, and I will share work in progress on a collaborative research program with ARTIS-Planetarium (part of the ARTIS Zoo in Amsterdam). Related to their goal of inspiring visitors to take better care of their environment by emphasizing the uniqueness of planet Earth, we conduct collaborative research to compare the effects of different storylines and messages on people’s experiences during a live show and their subsequent behavioral intentions.