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Special Section: Environmental Conservation

Bringing Environmental Psychology Into Action

Four Steps From Science to Policy

Published Online:January 01, 2014https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000174

Abstract

Environmental psychology is by definition one of the main disciplines for individual behavioral change with regard to sustainability issues. However, it has not been as visible or successful as one could wish. We present a four-step process that describes the passage of knowledge from science to policy: Basic research generates pieces of reliable knowledge; transdisciplinary research includes the views and knowledge of the stakeholders that are concerned, and tests results in the field; dissemination brings results, tools, and techniques to the attention of the public; finally, policy creates structures that provide guiding behavioral contexts. The various frames of understanding in the sectors of basic and transdisciplinary science, the media, and policy making are discussed, as well as ways of addressing them. Some attention is brought to the embedding contexts that foster the generation of compatible and useful scientific results. We conclude with a discussion of the relation between scientists and societal actors with a focus on trustworthiness.

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