Junior professorship for Sustainability Science and Psychology

Organisational unit: Professoship

Organisation profile

The research group combines decision psychology with climate and sustainability research. We work closely with practitioners and international colleagues from other disciplines, such as climate research, meteorology, economics and engineering.

Main research areas

On the one hand, we research risk perception and communication. This includes what differentiates people in their risk perception, as well as how users understand different communication formats for climate and environmental risks and associated uncertainty.
Second, we look at mechanisms of climate-related (everyday) decision-making, especially the simple rules of thumb that people often use to deal with an overabundance of information, such as on climate change.
Our findings help people make informed decisions about sustainability and adapt effectively to challenges such as climate change.

  1. 2025
  2. Published

    Intellectual humility links to metacognitive ability

    Fischer, H., Kause, A. & Huff, M., 05.2025, In: Personality and Individual Differences. 238, 7 p., 113028.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  3. 2024
  4. Published

    Public understanding of climate change terminology in Germany

    Wege, L., de Bruin, W. B. & Kause, A., 15.05.2024, In: Climatic Change. 177, 5, 27 p., 81.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesTransferpeer-review

  5. E-pub ahead of print

    Defeminizing Sustainability: How to Boost Men’s Motivation for Proenvironmental Behavior

    Hällfritzsch, M., Volpi, L., Daniel, K. G., Somogyi, C., Kause, A., Reese, G. & Loschelder, D. D., 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Motivation Science.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

  6. 2023
  7. Published

    Science Communication as a Collective Intelligence Endeavor: A Manifesto and Examples for Implementation

    Holford, D., Fasce, A., Wulf, M., Kause, A., Tapper, K., Demko, M., Lewandowski, S., Hahn, U., Abels, C. M., Ahmed, A.-R., Sameer, A., Boender, S. T., Bruns, H., Fischer, H., Gilde, C., Hanel, P. H. P., Herzog, S. M., Lehmann, S., Nurse, M. S., Orr, C., Pescetelli, N., Petrescu, M., Sa, S., Schmid, P., Sirota, M. & Wulf, M., 08.2023, In: Science Communication. 45, 4, p. 539-554 16 p.

    Research output: Journal contributionsComments / Debate / ReportsResearch

  8. 2022
  9. Published

    Confidence levels and likelihood terms in IPCC reports: a survey of experts from different scientific disciplines

    Kause, A., Bruine de Bruin, W., Persson, J., Thorén, H., Olsson, L., Wallin, A., Dessai, S. & Vareman, N., 01.07.2022, In: Climatic Change. 173, 1-2, 18 p., 2.

    Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review