My group in environmental psychology studies how individuals react to collective problems such as climate change. We use surveys and experiments to descriptively map systems, and to predict behavior from thoughts, identities, personalities, and social context. We also study consumer and household decisions from plastics to fast fashion, and communication effectiveness focused on the comprehension of policy options. Crossing planetary boundaries is an emergency and we have limited time to make a transition towards clean energy and circular consumption. Please get involved.
Assistant Professor of Social Psychology with tenure, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Associate Professor of Social Psychology (20%), Inland University of Applied Sciences, Norway
2022 Early Career Achievement, APA Div. 34 Environmental Psychology
2021 Rising Star, Association for Psychological Science
Large Grants
2024 — 25 EU Commission: EU harmonized consumer waste labels (€575.000)
2024 — 28 UvA Research Priority Area: BRIDGES Sustainability (€1.250.000)
2023 — 25 UvA Sustainable Prosperity: SISTEM-NL Microfibers from clothes washing (€400.000)
2023 — 27 OCW Starter Grant: Climate activism behavior (€414.000)
2023 — 27 Horizon Europe: MOSAIC Motivations and land-use (€6.937.000)
2022 — 26 NWO-KIC Circularity: MIWATEX Poly-cotton clothing recycling (€1.294.000)
Teaching
Depending on grant funding, I teach 25-55% FTE in BSc Social Psychology, BSc Politics, Psychology, Law & Economics, and MSc Social Influence.
PhD students: Anna Bosshard, Anna Sach, Linli Zhou; and at U of Trento: Anna Castiglione
PhD graduates: Maria Zwicker
Postdocs: Alaa Aldoh
Consulting
I consult for companies, universities, and governments with clients such as the European Commission, University of California, Defra, UK Cabinet Office, UK National Rail, Fairphone, Open Evidence, and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
See a report of media attention. On the right, I talked in Cambridge about communicating for influence (14 min).
Official PDFs are provided below. Many are legal because they are Open Access. For others, under the Taverne Amendment, it is legal for researchers at Dutch universities to post official publications “regardless of any 'restrictive publishers’ guidelines, provided that clear reference is made to the source of the first publication of the work.”
2024
Nielsen, K. S., Cologna, V., Bauer, J. M., Berger, S., Brick, C., Dietz, T., Hahnel, U. J., Henn, L., Lange, F., Stern, P. C., & Wolske, K. S. (2024). Realizing the full potential of behavioral science for climate change mitigation. Nature Climate Change, 14(4), 322-330. 10.1038/s41558-024-01951-1. PDF
Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., Pronizius, E., van den Broek, K. L., Vlasceanu, D., Constantino, S., Morais, M. J., Schumann, P., Rathje, S., Fang, K., Aglioti, S. M., ... Van Bavel, J. J. (2024). Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10, eadj5778, 10.1126/sciadv.adj5778. PDF
2023
Brick, C., Nielsen, K. S., & Hofmann, W. (2023). Opportunities for emotion research on biodiversity. Emotion Review, 15(4), 263-266. 10.1177/17540739231193755. PDF
Zwicker, M., van Harreveld, F., Zickfeld, J. H., & Brick, C. (2023). Intentions to purchase a sustainable mobile phone by network analysis in four European countries. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 40, September 2023, 337-351. 10.1016/j.spc.2023.07.008. PDF
Zwicker, M., Brick, C., Gruter, G.-J. M., & van Harreveld, F. (2023). Positive consumer attitudes and willingness to pay for novel bio-based plastic bottles. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 35, 173-183. 10.1016/j.spc.2022.10.021. PDF
Kenward, B., & Brick, C. (2023, in press). Large-scale disruptive environmental activism strengthened environmental attitudes in the United Kingdom. Global Environmental Psychology. 10.23668/psycharchives.13225. PDF
Bosshard, A., Chatrou, A., & Brick, C. (2023). Climate concern and engagement: Large face-to-face and online polls in the Netherlands. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 26, e6, 1-12. 10.1017/SJP.2023.3. PDF
Koller, K., Pankowska, P. K., & Brick, C. (2023). Identifying bias in self-reported pro-environmental behavior. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 4, 100087. 10.1016/j.cresp.2022.100087. PDF
Geiger, N., & Brick, C. (2023). Core social motives explain responses to collective action issues. Social Psychological and Personality Compass, 17(3), e12732. 10.1111/spc3.12732. PDF
Meijers, M. H. C., Wonneberger, A., Azrout, R., Torfadóttir, R., & Brick, C. (2023). Introducing and testing the personal-collective-governmental efficacy typology: How personal, collective, and governmental efficacy subtypes are associated with differential environmental actions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 85, 101915. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101915. PDF
2022
Nielsen, K. S., Brick, C., Hofmann, W., Joanes, T., Lange, F., & Gwozdz, W. (2022). The motivation-impact gap in pro-environmental clothing consumption. Nature Sustainability, 5, 665–668. 10.1038/s41893-022-00888-7. PDF. Postprint
Pröpper, H. Y., Blanken, T. F., Geiger, S., & Brick, C. (2022). Identity over truth? Cultural cognition weakly replicates across 23 countries. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 83, 101865. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101865. PDF
Kácha, O., Vintr, J., & Brick, C. (2022). Four Europes: Climate change beliefs and attitudes predict behavior and policy preferences using a latent class analysis on 23 countries. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, 101815. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101815. PDF
Sparks, A., Ehret, P. J., & Brick, C. (2022). Measuring environmental orientation: testing and building scales. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, 101780. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101780. PDF
Downey, H., ... & Sutherland, W. (2022). Principles for the production of evidence-based guidance for conservation actions. Conservation Science and Practice, 4(5). 10.1111/csp2.12663. PDF
Zwicker, M., Bosshard, A., & Brick, C. (2022). Organisations can make a real impact on sustainable development. One Earth, 5(7), 751-753. 10.1016/j.oneear.2022.06.007. PDF
Psychological Science Accelerator Consortium. (2022). SPAML (PSA 007): Semantic priming across many languages. Nature Human Behaviour. Accepted Stage 1 Registered Report. PDF
Castiglione, A., Brick, C., Lindsay, D., Holden, S., & Aron, A. (2022). Discovering the psychological building blocks underlying climate action - a longitudinal study of real-world activism. Royal Society Open Science, 9, 210006. 10.1098/rsos.210006. PDF
2021
Brick, C., Hood, B., Ekroll, V., & de-Wit, L. (2021). Illusory essences: A bias holding back theorizing in psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(2), 491-506. 10.1177/1745691621991838. PDF
Brick, C., & Freeman, A. L. (2021, in press). Communicating evidence in icons and summary formats for policy makers: What works? Behavioural Public Policy. 10.1017/bpp.2020.54. PDF
Brick, C., Bosshard, A., & Whitmarsh, L. (2021). Motivation and climate change: A review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 82-88. 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.04.001. PDF
Brick, C., Fillon, A. A., Yeung, S. K., Wang, M., Ho, J. Y., Wong, S. C., & Feldman, G. (2021). Self-interest is overestimated: Two successful pre-registered replications of Miller and Ratner (1998). Collabra: Psychology, 7(1), 23443. 10.1525/collabra.23443. PDF
Brick, C., & Sherman, D. K. (2021). When does being watched change pro-environmental behaviors in the laboratory? Sustainability, 13(5), 2766. 10.3390/su13052766. PDF
Geiger, S., Brick, C., Nalborczyk, L., Bosshard, A., & Jostmann, N. B. (2021). More green than gray? Toward a sustainable overview of environmental spillover effects: a Bayesian meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 78, 101694. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101694. PDF
Lange, F., & Brick, C. (2021). Changing pro-environmental behavior: Evidence from (un)successful intervention studies. Sustainability, 13(14), 7748. 10.3390/su13147748. PDF
Zwicker, M. V., Brick, C., Gruter, G. M., & van Harreveld, F. (2021). (Not) doing the right things for the wrong reasons: an investigation of consumer attitudes, perceptions, and willingness to pay for bio-based plastics. Sustainability, 13(12), 6819. 10.3390/su13126819. PDF
Cologna, V., Hoogendoorn, G., & Brick, C. (2021). To strike or not to strike? An investigation of profiles of participating and non-participating students at the Fridays for Future climate strikes. PLoS ONE, 16(10), e0257296. 10.1371/journal.pone.0257296. PDF
Brick, A., & Brick, C. (2021). Districting that minimises partisan bias. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, 138. 10.1057/s41599-021-00809-7. PDF
Nielsen, K. S., Cologna, V., Lange, F., Brick, C., & Stern, P. C. (2021). The case for impact-oriented environmental psychology. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 74, 101559. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101559. PDF
Lange, F., Nielsen, K. S., Cologna, V., Brick, C., & Stern, P. C. (2021). Making theory useful for understanding high-impact behavior: A response to van Valkengoed et al. (2021). Journal of Environmental Psychology, 75, 101611. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101611. PDF
Kenward, B., & Brick, C. (2021). Even UK Conservative voters prefer the environment to be at the heart of post-COVID-19 economic reconstruction. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 9(1), 321-333. 10.5964/jspp.6917. PDF
Sutherland, W., ... & Petrovan, S. O. (2021). A solution scan of societal options to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission and spread. Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity, 3(2), 84-90. 10.1016/j.jobb.2021.08.003. PDF
Tierney, W., ... Culture and Work Morality Forecasting Collaboration, & Uhlmann, E. L. (2021). A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 93, 104060. 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104060. PDF
2020
Brick, C., McDowell, M., & Freeman, A. L. (2020). Risk communication in tables vs. text: a Registered Report randomised trial on 'fact boxes'. Royal Society Open Science, 7(3), 190876. 10.1098/rsos.190876. PDF
Hodges, H., Kuehl, C., Anderson, S., Ehret, P., & Brick, C. (2020). How water districts can reduce household water use through communication: A field experiment. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 39(4), 1076-1099. 10.1002/pam.22246. PDF
Ehret, P., Hodges, H., Kuehl, C., Brick, C., Muller, S., & Anderson, S. (2020). Systematic review of household water conservation interventions using the information-motivation-behavioral skills model. Environment & Behavior, 53(5), 485-519. 10.1177/0013916519896868. PDF
Lange, F., Brick, C., & Dewitte, S. (2020). Green when seen? No support for an effect of observability on environmental conservation in the lab: a Registered Report. Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), 190189. 10.1098/rsos.190189. PDF
Vesely, S., Klöckner, C. A., & Brick, C. (2020). Are environmentalists more pro-social when solving social dilemmas? Expectations and behavior in the lab. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 67, 101362. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.101362. PDF
2019
Ford, H., Brick, C.*, Blaufuss, K., Dekens, P., & Azmitia, M. (2019). Women from under-represented minorities are given too few talks at world’s largest earth science conference. Nature, 576, 32-35. 10.1038/d41586-019-03688-w. PDF * co-first author
Schüz, B., Brick, C., Wilding, S. E., & Conner, M. T. (2019). Socioeconomic status moderates the effects of health cognitions on health behaviors: Two multi-behavior studies. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 54(1), 36-48. 10.1093/abm/kaz023. PDF
Brick, C. (2019). A modest proposal for restoration ecology. Restoration Ecology, 27(3), 485-487. 10.1111/rec.12943. PDF
2018
Brick, C., & Lai, C. K. (2018). Explicit (but not implicit) environmentalist identity predicts pro-environmental action. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 58, 8-17. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.07.003. PDF
Brick, C., Freeman, A. L., Wooding, S., Skylark, W. J., Marteau, T., & Spiegelhalter, D. J. (2018). Winners and losers: Communicating the potential impacts of policies. Palgrave Communications, 4(69), 1-13. 10.1057/s41599-018-0121-9. PDF
Brick, C., & Spiegelhalter, D. J. (2018). Winners and losers: Communicating the potential impacts of policies: Commentary on Zeller. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 10.1093/ntr/nty197. PDF
Ford, H., Brick, C., Blaufuss, K., & Dekens, P. S. (2018). Gender inequity in speaking opportunities at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Nature Communications, 9(1358), 1-6. 10.1038/s41467-018-03809-5. PDF
Moshontz, H., Campbell, L., Ebersole, C. R., IJzerman, H., Urry, H. L., Forscher, P. S., … Chartier, C. R. (2018). The Psychological Science Accelerator: Advancing psychology through a distributed collaborative network. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 1(4), 501-515. 10.1177/2515245918797607. PDF
Busic-Sontic, A., & Brick, C. (2018). Personality trait effects on green household installations. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 8, 1-11. 10.1525/collabra.120. PDF
Voisin, D., Brick, C., Valleé, B., & Pascual, A. (2018). When stereotype threat does not impair performance, self-affirmation can be harmful. Self & Identity, 18(3), 331-348. 10.1080/15298868.2018.1454339. PDF
2017
Brick, C., Sherman, D. K., & Kim, H. S. (2017). "Green to be seen" and "brown to keep down": Visibility moderates the effect of identity on pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 51, 226-238. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.04.004. PDF
2016
Brick, C., & Lewis, G. J. (2016). Unearthing the “green” personality: Core traits predict environmentally friendly behavior. Environment and Behavior, 48(5), 635-658. 10.1177/0013916514554695. PDF
Brick, C., McCully, S. N., Updegraff, J. A., Ehret, P. J., Areguin, M. A., & Sherman, D. K. (2016). The impact of cultural exposure and message framing on oral health behavior: Exploring the role of message memory. Medical Decision Making, 36(7), 834-843. 10.1177/0272989X15570114. PDF
2015
Binning, K. R., Brick, C., Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K. (2015). Going along versus getting it right: The role of self-integrity in political conformity. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 73-88. 10.1177/0013916514554695. PDF
Updegraff, J. A., Brick, C., Emanuel, A. S., Mintzer, R. E., & Sherman, D. K. (2015). Message framing for oral health: Moderation by perceived susceptibility and motivational orientation in a diverse sample of Americans. Health Psychology, 34(1), 20-29. 10.1037/hea0000101. PDF
2010
Brick, C., Seely, D. L., & Palermo, T. M. (2010). Association between sleep hygiene and sleep quality in medical students. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 8(2), 113–121. 10.1080/15402001003622925. PDF
Canseco-Gonzalez, E., Brehm, L., Brick, C., Brown-Schmidt, S., Fischer, K., & Wagner, K. (2010). Carpet or cárcel: the effect of age of acquisition and language mode on bilingual lexical access. Language and Cognitive Processes, 25(5), 669-705. 10.1080/01690960903474912. PDF