The Psychology of Collective Climate Action

How do we find the courage to act together against the climate crisis? This book weaves together real-life findings and examples from the social-ecological movement with psychological research to show how motivation for collective climate action can be built.

Autorentext

Karen Hamann is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Social Psychology of Leipzig University, Germany. Her research concerns empowerment, collective action, visions of an ecological future, and the energy transition. She is a co-founder of Wandelwerk e.V., a collective of practice-oriented environmental psychologists of which all the authors are members.

Eva Junge works as an environmental psychologist and climate communicator. She is a co-founder of Wandelwerk e.V., an advisor for socio-ecological NGOs, and an "artivist".

Paula Blumenschein is a research associate at TU Dortmund University, Germany. She works in the clinical and biological psychology working group with a focus on the climate crisis and mental health.

Sophia Dasch is an environmental psychologist and science communicator, specializing in climate education and consultation. She also works as a project manager at ConPolicy, an institute for consumer policy.

Alex Wernke works as a climate communication trainer for klima*kollektiv and as a freelance political educator.

Julian Bleh is a research associate at the Department of Social Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany, where his research is concentrated on the ability to envision social change.

Inhalt

Foreword

Preface

Climate courage and the aims of this book

Who this book is for

The story behind this book

Defining "we"

A quick bit about Wandelwerk

**Our Author Team

Two core questions

Building a bridge between science and practice

Critically reflecting on findings

What you will and will not find in this book

References

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Overview of the psychological model

Defining collective climate action

Examples of collective climate action

Differentiating between collective and private climate action

The Social Identity Model of Collective Action

The structure of this book

References

Part 1: Motivating for collective climate action

Chapter 2: Social identification

Defining social identification

From social identification to collective climate action

How we can strengthen identification with climate action groups

Focus 1: Highlighting the connection to climate action groups

Focus 2: Creating climate action groups that meet people's needs

Discovering your social identification

References

Chapter 3: Moral beliefs and emotions

****Defining moral beliefs

Core values

From moral beliefs and emotions to collective climate action

Guilt

Anger

How we can use moral beliefs and emotions as tools for effecting collective climate action

Focus 1: Creating anger-eliciting situations

Focus 2: Using moral beliefs and anger to build external support

Discovering your value basis

References

Chapter 4: Framing climate action

Defining framing

Challenging existing frames

How we can create frames for collective climate action

Considering target audiences in framing decisions

References

Chapter 5: Efficacy beliefs

Defining efficacy beliefs

Collective efficacy

Participative efficacy

From efficacy beliefs to collective climate action

Building efficacy beliefs

Maintaining efficacy beliefs

How we can foster efficacy beliefs

Focus 1: Accentuating positive changes

Focus 2: Designing group contexts that nurture efficacy

Discovering your efficacy beliefs

References

Chapter 6: Psychological effects of collective climate action

Action first, motivation second

Effects of an action's success or failure

Strategies for coping with failure

Social strategies (a social and shared mindset)

Reframing strategies (another perspective)

Distancing strategies (another focus)

Changing strategies (another action)

The spillover effect between private behaviors and collective action

References

Chapter 7: Summary of the model

Applying the pillars of motivation to drive collective climate action

References

Part 2: Cultivating resilient and effective collective climate action

Chapter 8: Resilient collective action and activist burnout

Don't underestimate activist burnout

Defining activist burnout

Causes of activist burnout

Personal and psychological factors

Group norms fueling burnout

Problems within groups kindling burnout

Building resilient climate action groups

Group-focused strategies for resilient collective climate action

Individual-focused strategies for resilient collective climate action

Group exercise for assessing activist burnout

References

Chapter 9: Socio-ecological transformation

Looking at the bigger picture

Defining socio-ecological transformation

The Multi-Level Perspective

Three levels of change

The theory of change for the Multi-Level Perspective

The Social Tipping Point concept

The theory of change for the Social Tipping Points

The Three Strategies of Transformation

Circumstances of transformation

The theory of change for the Three Strategies of Transformation

The Movement Action Plan

The four roles within social change

The theory of change for the Movement Action Plan

Take-aways

Common features of theories of change

Your take on socio-ecological change

References

Chapter 10: Effective goals for climate groups

Picking your battles: Goals and target groups

Target group descriptions

Strategies for achieving target group goals

Achieving these goals using SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION

Achieving these goals using MORAL BELIEFS

Achieving these goals using FRAMING

Achieving these goals using EFFICACY BELIEFS

Achieving these goals using COLLECTIVE ACTION

Achieving these goals using RESILIENCE STRATEGIES

Defining your goals and strategies

References

Chapter 11: Conclusion, recommendations, and further ideas

Final words

Research areas in need of addressing

Recommended books and videos to explore

References

Appendix: Overview of research designs

Individual experiences

Qualitative research

Quantitative research

References