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NATURE CLIMATE CHANGE | VOL 5 | JULY 2015 | www.nature.com/natureclimatechange G lobal climate change is one of the major threats facing humanity. Human interactions with climate occur at all levels of social organization 1 , but so far research has focused largely on institutional actors (for example, governments, industries) and on the technological, demographic and economic trends that drive climate change. Factors that influence decisions and behaviour at the individual level have received significantly less attention 2 . However, individual behaviour is important 3 and ultimately drives societal change via adoption of technologies and support for policies. Unless we examine how people perceive climate change, what factors influence mitigation and adaptation behaviours and how climate change will affect human well-being, we will be unable to respond effectively as a society. Too much policy is based on oversimplifications and erroneous assumptions about these factors, for example, the assumption that informing individuals about climate change science is sufficient to affect decisions and behaviours 4-6 . Ignoring insights from psychological research can handicap progress towards a low-carbon, sustainable future 7,8 .Here, we review the unique contribution that a psychological approach 9,10 can provide for understanding and addressing climate change, complementing work from other disciplines. Psychological research employs rigorous empirical methods to investigate individual perceptions and cognitions, individual and collective behaviours, and psychological well-being related to climate change. This research incorporates physiological, cognitive, affective and interpersonal processes, as well as factors in the social, cultural, biophysical and engineered environments of individuals 5,11 . Some of the resulting insights are surprising or counterintuitive; in other instances, they serve as a reminder to consider factors that may be overlooked. Here we focus on three key areas in which psychological research contributes to the climate change literature: (1) public perceptions of climate change; (2) human behavioural drivers of climate change and mitigation responses; and (3) impacts of climate change on human well-being and adaptation responses ( Fig. 1). In each case, we review existing research and recommend key directions for future research. We conclude by considering the ways that psychologists can contribute to multi-and interdisciplinary teams to understand and inform climate change mitigation and adaptation.Human behaviour is integral not only to causing global climate change but also to responding and adapting to it. Here, we argue that psychological research should inform efforts to address climate change, to avoid misunderstandings about human behaviour and motivations that can lead to ineffective or misguided policies. We review three key research areas: describing human perceptions of climate change; understanding and changing individual and household behaviour that drives climate change; and examini...

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Environmental challenges, though daunting, present an important area for psychologists to apply their knowledge. Psychological theories, research methods, and interventions are essential for examining the questions about human impacts, tendencies, and capacities that are integral to constructing effective responses to these challenges. Although a great deal of relevant research has been done, there is scope for psychologists to be more extensively involved. Following a brief review of existing research, we outline some important new directions. We also highlight 2 key divergences, arguing that psychological research needs to expand beyond a traditional, theory-based and decontextualized approach to environmental issues to incorporate a contextualized or “place-based” approach and a willingness to collaborate in interdisciplinary research teams that focus on specific environmental problems. Suggestions for promoting such interdisciplinary collaborations are reviewed. We encourage psychologists to expand their engagement with important environmental issues through multiple research approaches in order to further their understanding of human behavior, contributions to human well-being, and relevance to other disciplines and to society.

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Gender studies show that women and men communicate using different styles, but may use either gender style if there are situational status differences. Considering the universal gesture of head nodding as a submissive form of expression, this study investigated head nodding by observing female and male college students in positions of subordinate and equal status. We observed head nodding (N = 452) in classroom interactions between professor-student and student-student dyads. Overall, women nodded more than men and students nodded more to professors speaking than peers speaking. In addition, female and male students nodded equally to professors speaking, but men nodded less to peers speaking than did women. Thus, both men and women attended to the status and not the gender of the speaker. Future research using varying contexts should further examine the effects of dominance, context, and gender.