Do mortality reminders influence our water decisions: a new variable for the era of climate change, drought and uncertainty

Sarah Wolfe was awarded SSHRC funding for a research project to investigate whether and how water consumption and management decisions are influenced by emotion and psychological defences.

How can we get people – consumers and experts – to make better water decisions? My research program – linking social psychology with water management – revolved around that question. This focus was described as “a new conceptual field that will open up new ways of thinking about a problem that has been “stuck” [and] presents a new way of thinking about the role of emotion on such “rational” behavior… [a] contribution breaks into new ground and initiates new disciplinary linkages for water scholars.” The research team included Dr. Sheldon Solomon -- one of the founders of TMT -- and multiple student researchers to test whether 1) the mortality awareness (MA) hypotheses about whether water consumption and management decisions are subject to emotion and psychological defences, and 2) refine social psychology methods for water decisions/governance research.

Mortality awareness is the unavoidable knowledge that our existence is biologically limited and our psychological efforts to repress this awareness. Research incorporating MA promises to move the water management literature and practice beyond the conventional explanations of insufficient information, institutional failures, historical trajectories or participatory apathy while providing opportunities for more effective water decisions and interventions.

For more information on this research and our peer-reviewed publications, please see: https://sarahwolfe.ca/research-and-writing/
For more information about emotions and environmental issues, please see: https://seelab.ca/emotions/
For more information about working with Dr. Wolfe as part of a graduate degree, please see: https://seelab.ca/join-us/