Thursday, November 15, 2012

Elke Weber - Our Energy Efficiency Paradox: Psychological Barriers to 'No-Brainer' Solutions


From New York University's (NYU) Educating for Sustainability series, this talk is by Elke Weber, professor of psychology at Columbia University's Earth Institute Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (and Co-Director of the Center for the Decision Sciences).

In this talk, Weber examines:
  1. human causes of, consequences of, and responses (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change
  2. the links between these aspects of climate change and cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal, and organizational responses and processes
Hers is a deeper understanding of why climate change is resisted and why we are unable to make necessary decisions (and take actions) when it seems like a "no-brainer."



In her public lecture, "Our Energy Efficiency Paradox: Psychological Barriers to 'No-Brainer' Solutions," Elke U. Weber, the Jerome A. Chazen Professor of International Business at Columbia Business School and a professor of psychology at Columbia University's Earth Institute Center for Research on Environmental Decisions, will place the psychological dimension of climate change within the broader context of human dimensions of climate change. She will address (a) human causes of, consequences of, and responses (adaptation and mitigation) to climate change and (b) the links between these aspects of climate change and cognitive, affective, motivational, interpersonal, and organizational responses and processes.

Weber is an expert on behavioral models of decision-making under risk and uncertainty, investigating psychologically and neurally plausible ways to model individual differences in risk taking and discounting, specifically in risky financial situations and environmental decisions.

The Educating for Sustainability series, which brings environmental scholars and leaders to NYU for public lectures, is cosponsored by the Sustainability Task Force and the Environmental Studies program.

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