Climate Change, Environmental Decision-Making, and Social Dilemmas from a Psychological Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental challenges that have dire consequences for human and non-human life, including climate change, are becoming increasingly urgent, and solutions have not kept pace [1]. Solutions must be accelerated at every level of society—individually, institutionally, and internationally. At the individual-level, solutions include mitigation behaviors, such as sustainable food choices, energy and water use, reducing consumerism and waste, supporting pro-environmental policies and collective actions. Key solutions also include promotion of adaptation behaviors like natural disaster preparedness, home improvement and insulation efforts, and promoting adaptive community spaces like shade gardens. Many decisions regarding climate-friendly behavior operate in the context of social dilemmas. In these dilemmas, people face tradeoffs between various behavioral options, often experiencing tension between current and future consequences and between self and other’s/collective consequences. However, these tensions can also motivate change: participating in climate-related social dilemma simulations was found to increase pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors [2]. 

We join others in calling for more work to identify ways to harness the insights and applications of psychology to help environmentally sustainable behavior flourish. Psychology is uniquely poised to examine variables that allow for cross-level analysis between situational/contextual factors (e.g., social dilemmas, information framing, feedback, social norms, group values) and individual/dispositional factors (e.g., affect, values, identity, self-efficacy, political orientation) [3]. We invite empirical, theoretical, and systematic review papers addressing the psychology of social dilemmas and environmental decision making, especially those with a focus on synergizing multiple aspects of sustainability toward mitigation and adaptation.

1. IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;  Pörtner, H.-O.; Roberts, D.C.; Tignor, M.; Poloczanska, E.S.; Mintenbeck, K.; Alegría, A.; Craig, M.; Langsdorf, S.; Löschke, S.; Möller, V.; Okem, A.; Rama, B., Eds.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK; New York, NY, USA; p. 3056. https://doi:10.1017/9781009325844.
2. Druen, P.B.; Zawadzki, S.J. Escaping the Climate Trap: Participation in a Climate-Specific Social Dilemma Simulation Boosts Climate-Protective Motivation and Actions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 9438. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169438.
3. Swim, J.K.; Stern, P.C.; Doherty, T.J.; Clayton, S.; Reser, J.P.; Weber, E.U.; Gifford, R.; Howard, G.S. Psychology's contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change. American Psychologist 2011, 66, 241–250. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023220.

Prof. Dr. Perri B. Druen
Guest Editor

Stephanie Johnson Zawadzki
Guest Editor Assistant

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• psychology
• climate change
• social dilemma
• sustainability
• environmental challenges
• adaptation
• mitigation