About
62
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Introduction
As an environmental psychologist, I am interested in people’s interaction with their environment. My main research is on psychological aspects that motivate people to live a healthy, low-carbon lifestyle (e.g. what we eat and why), and how those can be targeted in engaging and inspiring behavioural interventions. My interests also include the broader picture of how psychological insights into behavioural change (or lack thereof) can inform systemic changes via policymaking or urban planning.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
February 2021 - February 2023
Position
- Senior Lecturer
Description
- I work as a senior lecturer at the Chair for Consumer Research, doing research on sustainable consumption and health behaviors. For further information: https://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f09/institutes/CRCFS/consumer/team/sonja-geiger-dr?set_language=en
March 2015 - February 2021
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- I was working at the TU Berlin as post-doctoral researcher completing my Habilitation on different ways to foster sustainable consumption behavior in November 2020.
April 2004 - October 2006
Education
April 2004 - October 2006
February 2004 - October 2006
September 1999 - February 2004
Publications
Publications (62)
This study reports the effectiveness of a theory-driven Internet based intervention aiming at reducing participants’ ( N = 415) clothing purchases. An information-only intervention and a combination of information, goal setting, goal feedback, commitment, and self-regulatory strategies was applied in four different experimental conditions, includin...
Extensive research highlights global and within-country inequality in personal carbon footprints. However, the extent to which people are aware of these inequalities remains unclear. Here we use an online survey distributed across four diverse countries: Denmark, India, Nigeria and the USA, to show widespread underestimation of carbon footprint ine...
Extensive research highlights global and within-country inequality in personal carbon footprints. However, the extent to which people are aware of this inequality remains unclear. This study examined perceptions of within-country carbon footprint inequality and their implications for climate policy support and the perceived fairness of actual carbo...
Neue Technologien und digitale Anwendungen, wie Online-Portale, Apps, digitale Spiele & Co., können auf kreative Weise zur Vermittlung von Naturschutzwissen und Naturerleben eingesetzt werden. Doch es gibt zahlreiche Herausforderungen bei der Umsetzung in der Praxis sowie offene Forschungsfragen, v.a. hinsichtlich der Auswirkung neuer Technologien...
This paper investigates the changes in time use, working conditions and subjective time wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Our analysis draws on panel data collected before and during the first lockdown among 786 employees. It employs a recently developed scale on time wealth which has been suggested as a comprehensive measure to captu...
One discussion in the context of education for sustainable development centres on the importance of cognitive as well as affective processes for promoting pro-environmental behaviour. In our study, we investigate how affordances of immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) such as the virtual embodiment of a tree might provide new opportunities to achieve th...
Affordances of immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) technology for learning (e.g., presence, immersion, interaction with 3D objects) and challenges of embedding this technology in teaching concepts are widely discussed. However, information on how German vocational teachers in the technical domain perceive iVR technology and if they intend to embed iVR...
Stress ist ein zentrales Diagnosewort (spät-)moderner Gesellschaften: Banken müssen zum Stresstest, Achtsamkeitsübungen versprechen Stressbewältigung, neue Technologien ermöglichen einen scheinbar stressfreieren Alltag und Entschleunigung. Die Beiträger*innen des Bandes erschließen den Begriff mit empirischen Mitteln und fragen aus einer Vielzahl s...
Stress ist ein zentrales Diagnosewort (spät-)moderner Gesellschaften: Banken müssen zum Stresstest, Achtsamkeitsübungen versprechen Stressbewältigung, neue Technologien ermöglichen einen scheinbar stressfreieren Alltag und Entschleunigung. Die Beiträger*innen des Bandes erschließen den Begriff mit empirischen Mitteln und fragen aus einer Vielzahl s...
Plastic marine debris (PMD) polluting marine habitats is a pressing anthropogenic global environmental problem and its reduction requires the commitment of government and industry, and the collaboration of the public. Environmental citizen science projects (CSPs) have flourished and are widely regarded as having positive effects on participants’ kn...
Abstract The potential of using immersive virtual reality (iVR) technologies to enhance nature relatedness by embodying non-human beings, such as plants or animals, is only sparsely researched. To contribute to this emerging research field we conducted an experimental study (N = 28) that compared the effects of the viewing condition (iVR or desktop...
The Environmental Awareness Survey 2018 is the twelfth environmental awareness study since 1996. It was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt - UBA) to investigate the environmental awareness and environmental behaviour of the...
Given that time pressure is a widespread and straining phenomenon in modern societies, strategies to alleviate it are increasingly required. Employing a quasi‐experimental longitudinal design with an active control group, the present study examined whether practicing mindfulness may attenuate time pressure and lead to more time affluence. Corrobora...
Wealth in time is thought to be instrumental for being more satisfied with one´s life while at the same time allowing time for sustainable consumption behavior. As a lack of theory-based measurement instruments has impeded thorough testing of those hypotheses, the current paper offers both a comprehensive definition and measurement. Reviewing the v...
To keep human resource consumption within planetary boundaries, individual consumption levels need to drop. We therefore investigated whether online communications interventions, especially on social media, can foster sufficiency in the clothing domain. In two experiments, consumption reduction and prolonging the lifetime of clothes were promoted....
This study is a snap shot of environmental awareness in its different facets in Germany 2018. Its part of time series study going back to 1996.
There is a dynamic stream of research, which examines why and how employees contribute and respond to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Building on these micro-CSR findings, this article makes a contribution to a better understanding of employee engagement in CSR by considering its determinants and effects. The research centres around the esta...
Free (German) online lecture by the IPU (Inititative Psychologie im Umweltschutz e.V.) and Virtuelle Akademie Nachhaltigkeit. Accessible here: https://www.va-bne.de/index.php/de/veranstaltungen/312-psychologie-des-sozial-oekologischen-wandels
If you are interested in watching the lecture series in another language, you can watch the videos on Yout...
In corporate life, the logic that time is money dominates. The aim is to budget working hours as efficiently as possible. However, it turns out that time rebound effects often occur when trying to “save” time. Such an effect is characterized by the fact that the demand for time-efficient activities increases. Such time-rebound effects are often acc...
In der vorliegenden Studie wird untersucht, inwiefern sich Arbeitsrealität, Zeitnutzung, Zeitwohlstand und Lebensqualität, sowie Konsumweisen in Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit während der corona-bedingten Beschränkungen verändert haben. Grundlage dafür ist eine Längsschnittstudie, wobei im Februar und im April 2020 jeweils knapp 1.000 Beschäftigte in Deu...
In this paper, we provide a definition of time wealth for the social-ecological research project “Time Rebound, Time Wealth and Sustainable Consumption” (ReZeitKon) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. After a general introduction to the current debate on time wealth (mainly in Germany), we provide an overview on existin...
Recent research suggests that mindfulness may foster sustainable consumption behavior through the reduction of the so-called attitude–behavior gap, or by weakening material values while increasing subjective well-being. The current controlled longitudinal study tested these propositions by employing a sustainability-adapted mindfulness-based interv...
Mindless eating is at the core of many ecological and social problems associated with modern nutritional behavior. Mindfulness training has been proven to be an efficient means for improving healthy nutrition. First, it enables reconnection with internal hunger and satiety cues, instead of external cues. Second, it supports making deliberate choice...
Las ciencias sociales, y en particular la psicología ambiental, tienen elementos clave para la comprensión y modificación de comportamientos que ayuden a la protección medioambiental. Este estudio busca evaluar la relación entre las actitudes ambientales, las diferentes orientaciones de valores y el comportamiento proambiental, aportando evidencia...
Environmental knowledge has been established as a behavior-distal, but necessary antecedent of pro-environmental behavior. The magnitude of its effect is difficult to estimate due to methodological deficits and variability of measures proposed in the literature. This paper addresses these methodological issues with an updated, comprehensive and obj...
Abstract
This report describes the adaptation and enhancement of a measurement instrument for the assessment of central aspects of environmental awareness. Based on content and methodological principles an existing instrument has been adapted with the goal to provide a valid and reliable measurement instrument for us-age in future representative st...
Collaborative fashion consumption as a possible path towards more sustainable clothing has taken different forms all around the world. However, it has been differently received in different cultures. Collaborative fashion practices and initiatives have not been deeply studied in the academic literature. Employing a quantitative comparative study be...
A central challenge in research on education for sustainable consumption (ESC) is to develop new approaches to engage adolescents with sustainable consumption (SC) in a way that addresses not only the cognitive but also the socio-emotional and behavioral levels. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) that foster awareness, (self-)reflection, and et...
Mindfulness-based approaches have been suggested as a
potential remedy for an increasingly unsustainable consumption
level in early industrialized countries. This article reviews twelve
current empiric papers (2005–2013) on five different potential
pathways in which mindfulness is thought to unfold its effects on
sustainable behaviors. Unfortunatel...
This paper examines the nature of the link between mindfulness and ecological behavior. Based on the notion that mindfulness incorporates heightened awareness of bodily sensations, we suggest an indirect path from mindfulness to ecological behavior that is mediated through individual health behavior, such as improved nutrition and increased exercis...
In the face of existing obstacles in the interdisciplinary research on sustainable consumption behaviors, we argue for the need of an integrative framework from an interdisciplinary perspective. Such a framework is presented in the form of a three-dimensional cube model of sustainable consumption behavior (SCB-cube) extended by a fourth impact dime...
This study examined the relationships between a general measure of environmental attitude (NEP), general environmental knowledge (GEK), and general ecological behavior (GEB) in two university student samples, one from Argentina (N Arg = 85, M age = 24.1, 59 % female) and one from Germany (N Ger = 98, M age = 22.5, 51 % female). Whereas Argentinean...
The positive relation of biospheric and altruistic values as well as the negative relation of egoistic and hedonic values to environmentally responsible behavior, are established findings in environmental psychological research. Recent findings revealed that compassion, the sensitivity to the suffering of other individuals, is also relevant for pro...
Does a mindfulness-based intervention at school lead to more sustainable consumption behavior in adolescents?
Purpose
Promoting sustainable consumption among young consumers has become a key priority on the research agenda in such different fields as education for sustainable development, environmental psychology, and consumer policy. Progress in this field has been hampered by a lack of sophisticated research instruments capable of measuring consumption...
Mindfulness, derived from Buddhist origins, refers to deliberate, unbiased and openhearted awareness of perceptible experience in the present moment. With its focus on cultivation of benevolent and clear-headed values and actions to self, others and the world, as well as its possible value in fostering greater coherence between values, attitudes an...
Several widespread approaches to Education for Sustainable Consumption (ESC) have emerged from the tradition of consumer information. A major shortcoming of such cognitive-focused approaches is their limited capacity to facilitate reflection on the affective processes underpinning people’s engagement with consumption. More holistic pedagogies are t...
Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Umfrage zum Kleiderkonsum in einer Kleinstadt im ländlichen Raum in Süddeutschland. Für mehr Information zum Projekt: www.dietenheim-zieht-an.de
Sehr geehrte Frau Ministerin Hendricks, sehr geehrter Herr Minister Schmidt, sehr geehrter Herr Staatssekretär Billen, mit Ihrer Eröffnung der " Nationalen Konferenz ‚Umsetzung nachhaltiger Konsum in Deutschland' " am 23. März 2017 richten Sie den Blick auf die Implementierung des vor einem Jahr im Bundeskabinett verabschiedeten Nationalen Programm...
Das Reallabor Nachhaltige Transformation der Textilwirtschaft am Standort Dietenheim
will die Nachhaltigkeit der lokalen Textilindustrie stärken. Dabei verfolgen die Akteure
unterschiedliche Ziele. Um den Erfolg einzelner Maßnahmen zu messen, hat das
Reallaborteam gemeinsam mit den Stakeholdern einen Kriterienkatalog entwickelt,
der die unterschied...
Methode: Im März 2016 wurde eine querschnittliche Online-Fragebogenstudie auf SoSciSurvey zum Zusammenhang zwischen Achtsamkeit und zeitlichem Fokus durchgeführt. Stichprobe: N= 250, 70% weiblich, 27,6% männlich 2,4% "andere" Altersrange von 19-91 Jahre, m= 31 Jahre (SD= 12 J)
Abstract: In this paper we present a new scale for the assessment of environmental
knowledge in the Latin American Region (EKLA) based on the Rasch
model. The scale was validated within two Latin American samples
(Argentina, N = 168 and Colombia, N = 130). Comparing the level of
environmental knowledge in both countries, the general prevalence of e...
One of the objectives which underlies environmental education is the promotion of individual factors as motivations and knowledge to encourage environmental protection. The objective of this study was to determine the personal values which drive a pro-environmental behavior in two Latin American countries. By means of surveys, biospheric, altruisti...
With their new campaign “I am made of water”, the work group on water of Amigos de la Tierra, Argentina (Friends of the Earth, Argentina) wants to call attention to the unjust and increasingly precarious drinking water situation in Argentina. This situation is characterized by great geographical, climatic and socio-economic differences between the...
This chapter proposes a reconciliation of logical and probabilistic processes using theories with a longer psychological pedigree. In a detailed review of the recent empirical literature on conditional reasoning, it observes that studies on the interpretation of the conditional seem to support the probabilistic account, whereas studies on condition...
Introduction As shown in various previous studies, a future-oriented time perspective is positively connected with pro-environmental attitudes (Milfont & Gouvia, 2005) and pro-environmental behavior, for example, recycling (Strathman et al., 1994). In a recent publication, Zimbardo and Boyd (2008) present a new time perspective, which they call the...
We investigated the effects of the duration and type of to-be-articulated distractors during encoding of a verbal list into short-term memory (STM). Distractors and to-be-remembered items alternated during list presentation, as in the complex-span task that underlies much of working-memory research. According to an interference model of STM, known...
This article presents four experiments that tested predictions of SOB (Serial Order in a Box), an interference-based theory of short-term memory. Central to SOB is the concept of novelty-sensitive encoding, which holds that items are encoded to the extent that they differ from already-encoded information. On the additional assumption that distracto...
In numerous recent studies in short-term memory, it has been established that forward serial recall is unaffected by the temporal isolation of to-be-remembered items. These findings contradict the temporal distinctiveness view of memory, which expects items that are temporally isolated from their neighbors to be more distinct and hence remembered b...
A series of experiments investigated what determines people's degree of belief in conditionals and their readiness to draw inferences from them. Information on the frequency of exceptions to conditional rules was contrasted with information about the number of different disabling conditions causing these exceptions. Experiments 1 and 2, using condi...
This work investigates the nature of two distinct response patterns in a probabilistic truth table evaluation task, in which people estimate the probability of a conditional on the basis of frequencies of the truth table cases. The conditional-probability pattern reflects an interpretation of conditionals as expressing a conditional probability. Th...
Numerous recent publications on the psychological meaning of ?if? have proposed a probabilistic interpretation of conditional sentences. According to the proponents of probabilistic approaches, sentences like ?If the weather is nice, I will be at the beach tomorrow? (or ?If p, then q? in the abstract version) express a high probability of the conse...
