Thomas Brudermann

Thomas Brudermann
University of Graz | KFU Graz

Dr.
Working on decision making, climate psychology and just transitions

About

55
Publications
110,133
Reads
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1,042
Citations
Introduction
My research and teaching focus on human decision making and decision analysis in the context of sustainable development and climate change. Current topics of interest include climate action, energy transitions, energy policy, adoption of green infrastructure, and the dynamics of complex (social) systems.
Additional affiliations
October 2016 - November 2016
Asian Institute of Technology
Position
  • Visiting Faculty
January 2016 - present
University of Graz
Position
  • Professor (Assistant)
November 2015 - November 2015
Asian Institute of Technology
Position
  • Guest Lecturer

Publications

Publications (55)
Article
This paper aims to identify and assess the main decision factors that are relevant for the diffusion of green roof technology in cities of temperate climate in Europe. A mixed design method was applied to identify relevant factors and to structure these along a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats framework. The factors were subsequentl...
Article
The 1.5° target outlined in the Paris agreement requires immediate and fundamental climate action; the lack of climate knowledge, prevalent misconceptions and purported knowledge may be major barriers. Therefore, this study was carried out to analyze signs of judgmental overconfidence in lay climate knowledge using a quota sample of 499 Austrians....
Book
Full-text available
Der Urlaubsflug nach Bali, das Steak im Restaurant, der Kaffee aus der Kapselmaschine: Wir würden ja gerne anders handeln, aber es klappt oft einfach nicht. Den »inneren Schweinehund« kennen wir alle, nicht nur, wenn es um die Umwelt geht. Der Psychologe Thomas Brudermann weiß um die unzähligen Ausreden, die wir parat haben, wenn Klimaschutz zu an...
Article
Full-text available
Ambitious policy measures required for transitioning towards a low-carbon energy system often face political and societal opposition. In this paper, we study discursive resistance towards currently debated mitigation policies in Austria from a justice perspective. By carrying out a discourse analysis that was based on newspaper articles, social med...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Die Marktperspektive betrachtet Märkte als zentrale Institution und Preisrelationen als zentrale Hebel für klimafreundliches Leben. Strukturen werden als Regeln für das Handeln auf Märkten verstanden. Deshalb braucht es Rahmenbedingungen, die Märkte regulieren, sodass das Verursacherprinzip wirksam wird: Wer Emissionen verursacht, m...
Article
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The most recent IPCC report considers Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) as an unavoidable climate change mitigation measure, although controversial discussions about CDR have taken place in the past. This study contributes to the ongoing debate by providing insights into academic expert opinions about Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) an...
Chapter
Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims to transform cities towards inclusion, safety, resilience, and sustainability. Littering, i.e. misplacing solid waste, is a worldwide problem which is associated with negative environmental, social, and economic consequences. In this study, we investigate the role of selected personal factors insofar as they aff...
Book
The volume provides a unique view on multidimensional crises, their interplay, and possible resolutions for sustainable life patterns and is therefore broadly related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Traditional unidimensional and technocratic strategies often fall short. Ultimately, people, their behavior and their habits are at the source of...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Kapitel 24 ist die Einleitung zu Teil 5, der die Hintergrundbewertungen für Kapitel 2 liefert. Teil 5 nimmt eine detaillierte Bestandsaufnahme von Theorien vor, die in einem weiten Sinne Wandel untersuchen. In den darauffolgenden Kapiteln werden die Marktperspektive (Kapitel 25), die Innovationsperspektive (Kapitel 26), die Bereitst...
Chapter
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Zusammenfassung Kapitel 2 systematisiert entlang von vier Perspektiven in den Sozialwissenschaften weit verbreitete Theorien zur Analyse und Gestaltung von Strukturen klimafreundlichen Lebens. Das Kapitel möchte Leser_innen des Berichts bewusst machen, mit wie grundlegend unterschiedlichen Zugängen Forscher_innen Strukturen klimafreundlichen Lebens...
Article
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Despite the increasing popularity of the notion of sustainability, there have been global challenges in effectively addressing environmental problems. One of the key strengths of the sustainability concept is its ability to coordinate and unite otherwise contending groups. Because of this bridging function, however, the concept remains necessarily...
Article
The aim of this paper is to identify facilitating and hindering factors for onshore wind energy development near natural conservation regions, in particular in Lower Saxony's Wattenmeer region. An applied research approach was deployed to connect individual aspects of wind energy technology and establish a cross-disciplinary perspective on the expa...
Article
Full-text available
Entrepreneurial decision-making is often characterized by unrealistic optimism. This so-called “overconfidence bias” has consequently received an increasing amount attention from the authors of literature on entrepreneurship research. Most empirical studies, however, that target the overconfidence bias have been conducted with students or samples f...
Article
A growing body of research has demonstrated that images of watchful eyes can promote prosocial behavior in a variety of settings. However, studies on the impact of eye cues on prosocial behavior in economic games yield ambiguous findings and thus provide no clear answer to the question whether these nudges have the potential to cause significant be...
Article
Full-text available
Voluntary carbon offsets (VCO) have been introduced as a means of compensating personal carbon emissions related to travelling. Purchases of VCO have remained low in the past, but might increase in the future due to rising awareness about climate change. VCO have been assumed to increase the acceptability of flying among eco-minded people. Therefor...
Preprint
Full-text available
Societal transitions, social change and extreme events are often a source of uncertainty for citizens. Such circumstances provide a ground for phenomena driven by “mass psychology” in which individual reasoning is replaced by psychological contagion and facts are replaced by opinions. The MAGA followers (“Make America great again”, pro-Trump moveme...
Article
Full-text available
This study addresses climate-friendly behaviors in three different domains, namely, conservation behavior, social climate protection, and climate citizenship. We tested the effect of psycho-social, cognitive, and socio-demographic factors on different climate-friendly behaviors on a quota sample of Austrian citizens (n = 499). All types of factors...
Article
Full-text available
Large-scale wind power projects are one of the bearers of hope for a transition toward low-carbon electricity systems. The question of social acceptance of such projects near residential areas, or acceptance of the technology in general, has received significant attention in the scientific literature. Less attention has been placed on acceptability...
Article
Full-text available
Higher education for sustainable development plays a crucial role in the transformation of society towards a more sustainable pathway of development. The new trends in society and technology experienced in the course of the fourth industrial revolution come with challenges, but also provide opportunities. In this paper, we reflect on the conceptual...
Article
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A growing population and the impact of climate change represent clear challenges for the agricultural sector. Adapting agricultural machinery, e.g., raising the use of electric vehicles (EVs), is one way of meeting such challenges. Although interest in EVs and sustainable farming is becoming ever stronger, in practice the usage of EVs still remains...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Anthropogenic climate change necessitates a transformation of the current fossil-based energy systems towards renewable energies. Despite large agreement on the huge costs of (climate) inaction, several developing countries currently see a massive uptake of carbon-intense coal-based power generation. This study aims to contextualize investment flow...
Article
Soaring energy demand in developing Asian countries presents a challenge for existing centralized systems and monopolistic electric utilities since these often fail to reliably provide energy service security. Inclusive energy governance could serve as a hedging mechanism against several inherent problems such as supply disruptions and corruption p...
Article
Green roof systems are considered a best practice for climate change adaptation and mitigation in urban areas affected by heat waves and stormwater flooding. Green roofs mitigate urban heat islands, improve urban air quality, buffer stormwater and improve runoff quality, absorb emissions and increase the thermal efficiency of buildings. Green roofs...
Article
Full-text available
Overconfidence has been reported to be a common bias among entrepreneurs and might be one cause of the high failure rates observed for new ventures. In this study, we investigate the overconfidence bias in a sample of 92 Austrian entrepreneurs, who responded to a general-knowledge questionnaire. Their levels of overconfidence were assessed by their...
Data
Questionnaire and categorization of questions. This file contains the used questionnaire and describes how the general knowledge questions were categorized into easy, medium and hard questions. (PDF)
Data
Survey data. This file contains the raw data collected in the survey. (XLSX)
Article
Socio-technical transformations towards low-carbon energy systems are on the way in developed countries. Conversely, developing countries tend to be locked in fossil fuels and foster coal-based energy structures, emphasizing reliable and cost-effective energy provision and sidelining environmental concerns. In this study, we identified and analysed...
Article
Governance constituents play a critical role in addressing energy security perspectives, especially for developing Asia. The Asian energy revolution is facing a set of complex challenges such as path-dependent energy systems, unreliable distribution of energy services, poor governance capacity, cross-border energy diplomacy, and climate change. Thi...
Article
Full-text available
Growing awareness of environmental and social issues in economic development contributes to move the idea of sustainable development forward. Since 2008, the Joint International Master in Sustainable Development offers an international and inter disciplinary approach to the hotly debated topic. It combines the strengths of the eight partner univers...
Article
Full-text available
We present a generic method for considering incomplete but gradually expandable sociological data in agent-based modeling based on the classic model of cultural dissemination by Axelrod. Our method extension was inspired by research on the diffusion of citizen photovoltaic initiatives, i.e. by initiatives in which citizens collectively invest in ph...
Chapter
Resilience-related topics have been gaining importance for urban planners and policy makers over the last decades. In this chapter, we argue that agent-based modeling (ABM) offers a promising tool to assess and test resilience-related measures which are planned and implemented in urban neighborhoods. We demonstrate potentials, but also limitations...
Article
The objective of this paper is to systematically identify and assess critical factors, which foster or hinder the development of bottom-up initiatives in the diffusion of photovoltaics. Bottom-up initiatives are social innovations, which entail civil engagement in energy transition at a local or regional level, and are expected to play a growing ro...
Article
Full-text available
Honor systems are a cheap and simple way for marketing low-price goods. These sale systems are dependent on the honesty of customers and can only tolerate a certain share of free-riders. In an experimental field study, we investigate a case where honesty has almost disappeared, namely an honor system for the sale of newspapers on weekends. In the c...
Article
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Humans are permanently interacting with their environment. On the one hand, human behaviour and perception are influenced by the environment. On the other hand, humans shape their environment with their actions. The application of theories and methods from environmental psychology is crucial for creating sustainable and satisfying living spaces in...
Article
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Which power leads to change, and which power prevents it? The article provides an overview of existing understandings of power in research on environmental politics and sustainability, including positive perceptions of power that researchers have hardly made explicit so far. It exposes the diversity with which one can understand power through three...
Article
Increasing energy prices and market volatilities force energy intensive industries to implement energy management systems in order to ensure competitiveness. In this paper, we focus on the strategic level of energy management, specifically, on the analysis of the internal and external conditions that form the basis for strategic development. For th...
Article
In this paper, we discuss the prospects of agricultural biogas plants. We conducted an integrated SWOT–AHP analysis for such plants in Austria in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT factors), and to weight the factors identified based on expert judgments, calculated according to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (A...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we propose an agent-based model for investigating collective dynamics in community-based electricity sharing systems. In our simulations, we assume the absence of electricity grids and telecommunication infrastructure–a situation which might be induced by a big natural disaster or a large-scale black-out. Under such circumstances, el...
Chapter
Mass psychology plays a role in many different phenomena like human stampedes, financial bubbles, fashion trends or political movements. Although of different nature, phenomena driven by mass psychology have a common ground: Individual decision making is replaced by psychological con-tagion, and facts are replaced by opinions about facts. The aim o...
Conference Paper
Agriculture is energy-intense, but also has a huge potential for generating energy directly at the point of use from renewables, e.g. biomass, photovoltaics and wind. In this paper, we investigate two models of collective arrangements among farmers in the federal state of Styria, Austria. These arrangements have the purpose to facilitate adoption o...
Article
In this paper we analyze the effect of regional and municipal measures for promoting energy transition on citizen attitudes and behavior. We compare one township that has successfully implemented a comprehensive and systematic energy-saving program (the so-called e5 program) with a township without such a program. The results indicate that despite...
Article
Full-text available
Numerous research works indicate that the cycle of boom and crisis can be regarded as a natural element in financial market history. On the other hand, there is a rich discussion among practitioners and academics on the origins of the recent global economic and financial crisis, which led the world into the deepest and most severe downturn since th...
Article
The current discussion on urban resilience is dominated by infrastructural and technological onsiderations. Although behavioral reactions to extreme events very well impact the overall resilience of urban systems, they are not very well considered. In order to close this gap, we review relevant insights on human decision making and collective dynam...
Article
Full-text available
This paper aims to identify the success factors, incentives, barriers and challenges in the adoption process of photovoltaics (PV) in the agricultural sector, with particular focus placed on decision making of individual farmers and network effects. We investigated a successful case of an Austrian farmers' association that set up a community power...
Conference Paper
This paper discusses behavioral aspects for agent-based models of resilient urban systems. Human behavior in emergency situations is not driven by rational deliberation, but usually based on intuitive decision making and on heuristics. With high levels of risk and uncertainty, mass-psychological propensities tend to occur as well: People no longer...
Article
Full-text available
Building integrated photovoltaics, a special form of photovoltaics, is still a niche market with a relatively low number of installations worldwide. Although it is considered a promising technology, especially in Europe where land for large-scale photovoltaic plants is rare, several factors continue to constrain its widespread adoption. This paper...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The emerging interdisciplinary field of neuroeconomics enriches models on human decision making by opening up the " black box " – the human brain. Neuroeconomics combines methods from neuroscience and experimental economics in order to trace and analyze subjects brain activities during participation in standard economic exchange experiments. Pertin...
Book
Full-text available
Der gegenwärtige Umbruch in Gesellschaft, Politik und Wirtschaft ist für viele Menschen mit Unsicherheit, Ungewissheit und Orientierungslosigkeit verbunden. Diese Rahmenbedingungen schaffen den Nährboden für massenpsychologische Ansteckungsprozesse, bei denen sich Menschen nicht länger an Fakten orientieren, sondern an anderen Menschen. Massenpsych...
Chapter
The importance of word-of-mouth (WoM) is completely underestimated by many media persons and still being neglected by several researchers. Since word-of-mouth typically cannot be planned or purchased in a strict sense, it is often left aside in media analyses and explanation models. However word-ofmouth is the most important factor in buying decisi...
Article
Full-text available
When people have to make a choice in an individual setting between a known-risk option and an untested situation of uncertainty, the majority prefers the known risk over the uncertainty of the alternative. The confrontation with an unfamiliar situation in an environment including other participants allows for new mechanisms in risk-perception and r...
Article
Der Vertrauensvorschuss, den „Innovation“ bei Unternehmern, Kunden und Konsumenten genießt, ist dermaßen groß, dass viele glauben, die Wirkung von Innovationen sei nur segensreich. Für einige Technologien, Produkte und Dienstleistungen mag das durchaus zutreffen. Wer aber glaubt, dass Innovationen ausschließlich Positives für Gesellschaft und Wirts...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This article introduces a new technique in viral marketing research. By applying a novel approach named Agent-based Modelling (ABM) the spreading of word-of-mouth and viral marketing dynamics can be simulated based on a bottom-up approach. From simulation results vital implications for viral marketing strategies are derived. For example the density...

Questions

Questions (2)
Question
I have been using Mendeley as a reference management software for more than seven years and was an excited user - nice usability & GUI, open access, good integration with Word, a simple but effective Web-Importer, etc.
After Elsevier bought Mendeley, things gradually get worse in terms of functionality and usability, and after several moments of frustration I finally decided to quit using it.
What are decent open access alternatives with good usability and team/multi-user functionality?
Question
A couple of frequently cited studies suggest that the presence of ‘eye images’ increase pro-social / cooperative behavior in natural and experimental settings.
According to these studies (most prominently by a group at Newcastle University around M Bateson and D Nettle), life-sized images of eyes seem to have an astonishing effect on cooperation levels.
Others (e.g. Fehr & Schneider, Raihani & Bshary 2012) found zero effect when investigating the impact of ‘eye cues’ on cooperativeness in their experimental studies. In a field study in a natural setting (forthcoming in Theory and Decision), we only find weak, statistically not significant effects of eye images on honesty (for details, please see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264556879_Eyes_on_social_norms_A_field_study_on_an_honor_system_for_newspaper_sale or http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11238-014-9460-1 )
I wonder if the effect of eye images is over-rated after all, maybe as a result of a publication bias – i.e. it is much easier to publish results than non-results in peer-reviewed journals.
I am interested in your opinions on that. I also wonder if you are aware of non-results of similar studies which have not been reported in Scopus-indexed journals.
Best regards,
Thomas

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