Currently reading “The Psychology of Collective Climate Action: Building Climate Courage” by Hamann et al. (2025), Part 1

I read this book on my vacation and loved it! It is written for activists (that aren’t actually called activists, so that everybody can feel included whether they identify as activist or not, but I want to claim the word) and written by activists with large expertise in climate psychology research (and who also disclose their positionality and privilege as well as pointing out that many of the studies they build this work on are from WEIRD populations, and that and where they use grey literature, but that that isn’t peer-reviewed yet and the implications of that. Love it!).

The book starts from the premise that what we need is systemic change, and tries to answer the two core questions

1. How can we build and sustain collective climate action?
2. How can collective climate action become resilient and effective?

In contrast to the typical carbon footprints (the negative effect we have on the world through individual contributions to the release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere), handprints are the positive impact we are having on the world, for example through collective action. The authors use a Social Identity Model of Collective Action, and based on that, give recommendations for building community for collective climate action.

Social identity

Social identity, or group identity, is usually based on having shared features like age or gender, shared actions or experiences, or common opinions). The stronger one identifies with a group taking collective action, the more likely one is to join. This is also my experience: Over the last year or so, I have been in touch with several different action groups, trying to feel one that I can identify with, and I noticed that as welcoming as they are also to non-mothers, I cannot identify with “rebellmamorna”, even though I know a lot of awesome colleagues who are active there and who I very much identify with as long as we are colleagues, but not when their prominent identity becomes that of a mom. Or Scientist Rebellion, where I do identify as a scientist, but cannot identify with the type of conversation the one local group had that I tried to join. Anyway, once you identify with a group, you tend to also identify with their norms, and “action-promoting social norms are what turn a group that cares about the climate crisis into a group that stands for climate action“.

So if one wanted to activate an existing social group towards climate action, one step would be to highlight the connection to climate action groups by, for example

• identifying common fates (or grievances) and traits (maybe even clothing style!) with the typical group member (possibly based on stereotypes, or what the leaders project). “On average, activists have a higher education, a job in a scientific, social, or creative field, and a lower income; they have fewer marriages and more divorces, fewer children, and more stress in relationships outside their activism. They typically have higher self-esteem, greater wellbeing, and fewer personal worries, but they also report more burnout, possibly due to their choice of work.” When reaching out to other audiences, it helps to use role models that are easily relatable for them instead of the “typical” member, or to emphasise the diversity in the climate action community to break down stereotypes and make it easier for others to identify with them.
• linking with pre-existing group identities (mothers, scientists, …): “it may be more efficient to win over one person from a target group with a strong influence on other group members rather than trying to convince each member of the target group individually” (I can relate to that from my experience in a previous academic development job. Winning over one key person opened all the other doors for me!)
• redefining group norms so that climate action becomes part of them
• creating a shared group identity (through interaction or shared experiences, for example in climate actions)

Alternatively, one could consider creating climate action groups that meet people’s social and personal needs, by

• fostering a sense of belonging (and I write here about how a sense of belonging can play a big role in positive feedback cycles!): “There are four primary approaches for fostering feelings of belonging: helping people bond with one another, cultivating solidarity, practicing a welcoming and benevolent group culture, and leaving room for fun activities.” What I find very interesting here is that on the one hand, groups need to stay small enough that people can actually feel belonging (and keeping groups small might be achieved by focussing on a specific group identity, like moms or academics), but that at the same time it is important to be aware of potential barriers to a sense of belonging that that might create, like meetings happening in university buildings that might feel excluding or alienting to non-academics, or in places like cafés where there is some expectation of being able and willing to buy food or drinks to be in the space.
• making members feel good about the group. Respecting members and also other groups whose aims are aligned: “critique should be formulated in solidarity with other groups with the overarching goal of strengthening the movement as a whole“. Mocking another group can change people’s perception of, and thus weaken, the whole movement, not just that group, and it is better to communicate solidarity despite different approaches. (I read somewhere that “it is only really a movement if it moves without you“, but I cannot find the source)
• helping to establish clear meaning and purpose. “Groups can help us create clear meaning because identifying as a group member provides us with shared meaning, guidance, and affirmation. There are three approaches for doing this: making groups distinguishable, clarifying what a climate action group stands for, and helping to find (new) meaning.” The authors stress the importance of logos and shared symbols, mission statements, …
• establishing a sense of control through autonomy, self-efficacy and collective efficacy.

Moral beliefs can lead to climate action

Moral beliefs are those values that we hold so strongly that we can often not even articulate why something is right or wrong, it just is, and that we perceive most strongly when they are violated. There are different classes of values:

• values that go beyond our personal selves, e.g. benevolence, caring for others, being dependable, humility
• values that focus on autonomy and excitement, e.g. novelty, challenge, imagination
• values that concern self-enhancement (e.g. achievement, success, power) and stability (e.g. culture, religion, conformity to others and rules, security)

How can we use moral beliefs to generate action?

• Creating anger-eliciting situations. Drawing attention to injustice and who’s responsible for it! On social media: “When thinking about how best to do this, a communication strategy that involves highlighting a single, specific injustice and, if possible, focusing on who might be behind that injustice might be the most effective way of eliciting anger and, consequently, motivating people to act“. And: Communicating others’ outrage so people know they are not alone in their anger!
• Using moral beliefs and anger to build external support. Engaging with outsiders in everyday life to understand how they think. But also engaging with outsiders during collective actions, e.g. preemptively share outreach materials, or explain to people in the traffic jam why the road is blocked.
• Challenging, not threatening, others’ self-image to not provoke defensive reactions (see also this post on what you know about science is not what you believe about science on the importance of considering identity). One way of doing that is to challenge the action, not the actor’s character. Reminding people that change doesn’t have to happen quickly. Engaging in non-violent communication. Balancing public support and media attention: The activist’s dilemma: “while non-normative collective actions can attract attention or put pressure on institutions, they can at the same time undermine public support for the social movement if the pro-test action is regarded as immoral” (also interesting report on “low action logic protests” here). Consider that the impacts of the radical flank can be both positive and draw attention to the cause, and negative and put people off, so be careful. Using constructive disruption (constructive in the sense that outsiders understand that the goals of the movement are a better future for all, and that the disruption will stop once the demands are met; disruption in the sense that the actions cannot be ignored) to reduce resistance to climate goals. Ensuring that a climate action is seen as legitimate, relatable, and effective: “The key takeaway here is that when it comes to designing actions, climate action groups would do well to put effort into clearly communicating to outsiders and members alike why a particular tactic is being chosen and how that tactic will be effective in promoting socio-ecological change.“

Framing climate action to influence how it is being perceived

How we present something influences how it is being perceived and how people react to it. There are three types of framings that are often found in social movements: “diagnostic frames (what is wrong), prognostic frames (what will happen), and motivational frames (what can we achieve)“. Here, the authors shout out the book “Psychology of Climate Change Communication” (which I, of course, had to then go and read, and here is the summary).

What I love about this book is that they really do what they preach. When they start writing about framing, I was thinking about the framing of this book, and exactly then they come with this disclaimer: “Framing, like storytelling, can serve purposes both good and bad. It therefore feels important to mention that this book, the stories we tell, and the messages we imply, comprise a contemporary product of our time. Political discourses are constantly being negotiated, and so too are the framings and labels we use and the meanings we draw from them. The projects, people, and places we reference throughout this book bear futures we cannot predict, making it possible that the terms we use today will be outdated or even considered offensive tomorrow.

As you reflect on this chapter, on the power and privilege of shaping our own stories, we ask you to take agency in your interpretation of our words: find your own examples, design your own labels, cross out what feels wrong, and write in what feels right. From its inception, this book was a collaboration among the authors. And we hope you see yourself as a fellow collaborator of this book as well.”

Fostering self-efficacy beliefs to support climate action

To become and stay motivated to contribute to climate action, one needs to feel some degree of self-efficacy. Interestingly, collective efficacy of a group is not perceived as important as long as participatory efficacy, the sense that the member can influence the community, is there!

There are several ways how you can foster self-efficacy beliefs in climate action groups.

• Accentuating positive changes, i.e. focussing on successes and linking successes to collective actions. But don’t only celebrate successess, also efforts: “Efforts should be acknowledged and celebrated, no matter how successful they might or might not be“). Also, make sure to emphasize the contributions of the many others that might be involved, and don’t forget to provide individual action guidance for how newcomers can contribute right away! And it is always good to elicit positive feelings and hope (and I have written a lot about hope and how to cultivate it recently), and to foster a growth mindset for the system — the system is flexible and can be changed! Lastly, the authors recommend working on envisioning a better socio-ecological future.
• Designing group contexts that nurture efficacy: “one of the most important elements of effective climate action is going beyond individual action and joining groups that reflect our values, making it possible to achieve much more than we would on our own. But this is easier said than done – a lot of people struggle with finding effective climate action groups or movements they want to belong to“. Therefore, consider diverse motivations (not just efficacy, but also a sense of belonging or enjoyment of spending time with people, both of which can grow into efficacy) and group sizes (large groups might support collective efficacy, small groups participatory efficacy, and possibly the best of both worlds in a strongly nested structure), choosing goals and actions wisely (but: “While the setting of clear goals is crucial for climate action groups, it is important to remember that goals are not set in stone. By diversifying climate goals and climate actions, groups can build a safety net for cases of stagnation or failure“). It’s also important to highlight and build skills (“Our skills and how we perceive them are crucial in building efficacy beliefs. If we perceive ourselves as having skills, we tend to also believe we can achieve something with them. This is also true if we perceive others as having skills – we also tend to believe we can achieve something together.“), and to distribute roles (for example someone who gets permission to critically examine every idea and suggestion, or someone who brings the cookies and contributes to the climate justice movement by keeping everybody else happy and fed!) so everybody can contribute in their own preferred way.

Psychological effects of collective climate action

As with most things, also in climate action the mechanism is ACTION FIRST, MOTIVATION SECOND. Write the letter to the university leadership (or other power), and gain motivation from that! If you wait for the motivation to do something, it might never come.

Also, collectively develop strategies for coping with failure! Those might be social strategies (a social and shared mindset), reframing strategies (another perspective), distancing strategies (another focus), or changing strategies (another action), or ideally a combination of all.

And be aware that “[r]esearch reveals that private and collective climate actions do not necessarily spill over into one another – there is no guarantee of a spillover effect occurring. If a group wants to promote collective climate action, it should aim for exactly this action and not get mired in changing private behaviors” (emphasis is mine).

And here endeth Part 1 of the book. So in a nutshell: Create groups that members identify with and that fulfill social and personal needs with them, elicit moral beliefs and use anger to get people into action, and foster self-efficacy beliefs. And importantly, make sure you focus on getting them moving, not on making them feel motivated to do so, because motivation comes from action!

Part 2 begins with a chapter on burnout, which I will summarise in a later post, and then goes into theories of change. They describe three levels of systemic change:

• Landscape. This level is large scale, and changes typically only relatively slowly. Examples are aging population, climate change, helt beliefs (“market regulates itself“).
• Regime. This levels is stabilised by norms, laws, … e.g. universities and companies.
• Niche. It is on this level that innovations can develop in a protected space and then grow, e.g. repair cafés

Changes on one level can influence the others: “Transformation occurs when landscape changes put pressure on and destabilize regimes. This opens a window of opportunity for prepared niche innovations to replace or gradually influence regimes“. For this, it is important to understand tipping points and that transformation can happen through rupture, through creating alternatives, and through reform. But I have read too much theory of change stuff recently to summarise it here.

Lastly, the book has overview summary tables, and you know I love a good table!

In summary: I very much recommend you check out the book, I loved it!

Hamann, K., Junge, E., Blumenschein, P., Dasch, S., Wernke, A., & Bleh, J. (2025). The Psychology of Collective Climate Action: Building Climate Courage. Taylor & Francis. Free download here.

Featured image and images below from a non-diving “rest day”, where we decided to hike to a salt lake. Which turned out to be not as easy to reach as we had imagined, but at least this beach was beautiful!

I could happily sit and watch waves forever!