Vorlesungsverzeichnis

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Start > Leuphana Bachelor (B.A./B.Eng./B.Sc./LL.B.) -> Major Umweltwissenschaften (bis Studienbeginn WiSe 16/17) -> Concepts of Social Sustainability Science

Lehrveranstaltungen

(Fahrrad)exkursionen zu nachhaltigen Unternehmen (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Jacob Hörisch

Perception and communication of environmental risks: Psychological foundations (Seminar)

Dozent/in: Astrid Kause

Termin:
wöchentlich | Donnerstag | 12:15 - 13:45 | 16.10.2023 - 02.02.2024 | C 11.307 Seminarraum

Inhalt: “Nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin just before the French Revolution. This ironic comment expresses that in our everyday lives, we permanently face risks, and associated uncertainties, and often, we do not even notice. But, instead of facing risks or trying to understand their real nature, many people, including experts or politicians, try to avoid risks or even behave in ways that harm themselves or others. Consequently, they may fear what is not really dangerous, but ignore what may actually be harmful. But, democratic systems require that individuals can understand risks, and make informed decisions. Through the lens of environmental psychology and related disciplines, we will first define what risk and uncertainty are for individuals, and look at theories for conceptualising these. This extends to individual differences in risk perceptions, such as environmental values, political affiliation, or whether people have directly experienced floods, extreme heat or other environmental hazards. Second, we will study how risks are communicated, namely how numbers, pictures and words shape risk perceptions. With this background, we’ll finally discuss why and how psychological research on risk perception and communication can help building a society which is capable to deal with environmental risks. The seminar will include topical sessions with student-led discussions, break-out groups and short presentations. Learning goals are a solid understanding of mechanisms of risk perception and communication, and of the methods used by psychologists and scientists from related disciplines for studying these. This will include 1) reading and interpreting scientific evidence and presenting it to others 2) applying this scientific evidence to practice, 3) developing one’s own research idea and refining it over the course of the seminar 4) discussing the broader societal relevance of transparent and clear risk communications.