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October 23, 2024 Distinguished Scholar Lecture
Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 5:30 PM - 7:00 PM CST
Category: Distinguished Scholar Lecture (CE)

Distinguished Scholar Lecture: What is Your Climate Story? The Psychology of Collective Action

Speaker: Christie Manning, Ph.D.

The Minnesota Psychological Association cosponsors the Distinguished Scholar Lectures with Macalester College’s Psychology Department

Location: Macalester College (Weyerhaeuser Board Room)
Check-in begins at 5:00 p.m. and the presentation begins at 5:30 p.m.
Level:  Introductory: Assumes post-doctoral education status and limited familiarity with topic.
Audience: Designed for psychologists and other mental health professionals. 

This program qualifies for 1.5 continuing education credit. You must attend the full program to get continuing education credit.

About the Program:
Even as the impacts of climate change become more devastating, the United States is not reducing its greenhouse gas emissions at the pace recommended by scientists. To achieve climate stability, people must engage with the issue and become motivated to not only make changes in their individual lives (e.g., shifting their diet or transportation choices) but, more importantly, to join with others and push for broad transformations in policy, infrastructure, and industrial and economic systems. Climate communication researchers suggest that storytelling, the sharing of experiences or ideas through narratives that create meaning and evoke emotion, is an overlooked but powerful method for mobilizing people for collective climate action. Minnesota-based non-profit, Change Narrative, LLC, hosts storytelling workshops designed to empower the voices of those typically excluded from climate change decision making. This talk will share psychological findings from an ongoing research collaboration with Change Narrative that explores whether - and how - participation in climate storytelling increases engagement with the issue, and if that engagement results in action.

Participants will be able to:

  • Distinguish between individual-sphere climate action and collective climate action
  • Compare the Theory of Planned Behavior and the social identity model of pro-environmental action in the context of climate-protecting behavior
  • Explain the different types of efficacies from both theories
  • Describe why group-based climate storytelling increases people’s willingness to engage in climate action
  • Describe the potential limitations of storytelling

About the Presenter:

Christie Manning, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor (Non-Tenure Track) of Environmental Studies at Macalester College. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Factors Engineering from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in Cognitive and Biological Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Manning's research focuses on how people respond to the climate crisis, and she is particularly interested in the psychological circumstances that motivate community-level action. Recent co-authored publications include a report from the American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica, Mental Health and our Changing Climate, and a 2021 academic textbook, Psychology for Sustainability. Dr. Manning is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Environmental, Population, and Conservation Psychology (Division 34 of the APA).

The speaker has indicated no conflicts of interest to report

The Minnesota Psychological Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Minnesota Psychological Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

ACCESSIBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS:  If you need disability related accommodations to make this event accessible, please contact Sherri Savage at [email protected] or 952-928-4696. 

Registration Pricing:

Registration Type Pricing
No CE Credit    Free
Professional Seeking CE Certificate     $20
Student Seeking CE Certificate       $5

Refund/Cancellation Policy: A 100% refund will be made if the event is cancelled. Refunds, less a $5 handling fee, will be given if a written cancellation is received at least two working days before the scheduled program begins. No refund or transfer is given the day of the program.

Click here to view and download a PDF program flyer and registration form.