Jessica Helm
Jessica is part of the PSBC lab in Basel. Her research investigates how affect and emotions shape human behavior and decision-making, particularly in the context of sustainability and public policy. She focusses on affective mechanisms underlying how people evaluate societal challenges and policy measures, as well as on interventions designed to increase public support for sustainable policies such as carbon taxes. She further examines how emotional responses guide how individuals attend to, interpret, and use information when forming judgments about complex societal issues like emerging climate technologies.
Methodologically, Jessica uses experimental, behavioral, and cross-national approaches to examine how psychological processes influence judgments, preferences, and policy support across diverse contexts. More broadly, she is interested in how emotional processes shape responses to societal challenges, including topics such as climate-related emotions, climate anxiety, and emotion regulation in the face of environmental risks. Through her work, she aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological factors that influence how people perceive, evaluate, and engage with sustainability challenges.