91ĹÝÜ˝

We are living in times of dramatic, rapid and widespread change. How do discontinuous changes in the present shape how people’s emotions about, and intentions to act to change, the future? In this research we integrate the insights from research on the psychology of dramatic social change, collective action and the human capacity to imagine the future (prospection). We suggest that action to bring about more just and equal societies (progressive collective action), or conversely, action to support more reactionary measures (reactionary collective action) will depend on: i) the experiences of the social changes induced by the change; ii) how people imagine the future (positively, utopian v negatively, dystopian) and, accordingly iii) the emotions that they experience about the present day and the future (hopes, fears, anger, compassion, gratitude). This research reports cross-sectional and longitudinal data collected in the context of wildfire disasters (Study 1; in Australia N = 871, and the United States N = 465) and the COVID-19 Pandemic (Study 2; in Australia, N = 519, and the United States, N = 510). Person-centred longitudinal structural equation modelling is used. The analyses identify when progressive and conservative forms of collective action are shaped by how people imagine the future, which aspects of that future matter, and address the role of the (positive/negative) emotions that prospection inspires. Perceptions and emotions about the past, present and future shape people’s intentions to act to change that future, in ways that can promote or undermine progressive societal change.

Prior work suggests that people may become more motivated toward environmental activism if they can imagine what a sustainable world might look like; the ability to imagine such a world – environmental cognitive alternatives (ECA) – correlates with identification as an environmental activist and environmental activist intentions (Wright et al., 2020). To date, we know of no causal tests of the relationship between ECA and environmental activism. We address this gap in two experimental studies.In Study 1 (N = 1174 US mTurk participants) we compared 3 different experimental conditions designed to manipulate ECA with a control condition. One of the ECA conditions – a task where participants were asked to think and write about a sustainable world (writing condition) – led to higher measured ECA, higher identification with environmental activists, and higher environmental activist intentions compared to the control condition. Study 2 (N = 1144 US mTurk participants) compared only the control condition and the writing condition; ECA increased identification with environmental activists, but not activist intentions. In both studies, measured ECA mediated an effect of condition on identification with environmental activists and on activism intentions. To our knowledge, these studies provide the first causal evidence that ECA promotes activist ID and activist intentions.

In times of climate change, biodiversity loss, and further crises, it is crucial for people to know where they want to be heading towards. Societal visions might provide the opportunity to face these crises and regain a sense of agency. An angle of environmental psychology research has recently addressed societal visions and found them to be potential drivers of pro-environmental action. However, little is known about how exactly visions need to be designed so that they change people’s beliefs and motivation to act. In the present study, we tested whether visions are more effective when they are (1) presented visually with real-world examples or (2) self-generated in the course of a dream journey. In an online setting, N = 158 participants were randomly assigned to an active visioning group (dream journey through people’s visionary neighborhood), a passive visioning group (short clips of best practice examples from all over the world), an active control group (meditation dream journey), or a no intervention control group. We found that self-efficacy, environmental cognitive alternatives and pro-environmental intentions were not stronger in the experimental groups compared to our control groups. To the contrary, a passive visioning group even lowered participant’s ability to think in terms of environmental cognitive alternatives. Yet, a dream journey descriptively increased collective efficacy as compared to our control groups. In the presentation, we will raise questions about the effectiveness and mechanisms of societal visions that build on this initial experiment, and present our latest ideas on visions about energy citizenship.

Recognising and diverse framings of collapse diversifies and provides depth to our utopias. Not only is collapse distributed unequally through time and inequitably through consequences, but utopias are context-specific and non-uniform. When envisaging the present as a period of disruption and forerunner to collapse we should ask whether sustainability challenges or reinforces social norms. Recognising the interconnections between these three concepts helps situate our imagined futures in time, place, and action.

Food systems are transforming. In the context of a global trend towards increasing urban populations (and widespread calls for more local production), this means a future with more urban agriculture. However, while celebrated for its ability to catalyse various social, economic, and environmental outcomes, urban agriculture in New Zealand struggles with a narrative of lack of recognition and support. Drawing on Rappaport’s (2000) claim that narratives play an important role in both maintaining the status quo and social change, this talk sketches a range of possible elements for a future with more locally-grown food. In line with food sovereignty’s calls to take grassroots voices seriously (Patel, 2009), these elements originate from 19 in-depth interviews with backyard growers, urban farm volunteers and garden organisers from Auckland New Zealand. Results are split into two main categories. Physical changes outline different locations and organisational structures that might be used to grow and distribute food, from informal exchanges and backyard production to farm cooperatives and larger holdings on the urban periphery. Psychological shifts canvas different aspects of the internal work required to support the above, from valuing organic production to prioritising the conservation of agricultural land, facing colonial dispossession, and increasing people’s sense of place. The talk concludes with a survey of barriers to these changes and a discussion of the ways that different urban agriculture pathways might be used to support broader transformations; in the words of Escobar (2020), to help “make other futures possible” (p.73).

The American political left is often assumed to be a monolith despite Leftists’ assertion of ideological differences and strict ingroup boundaries segregating themselves from Liberals. While both groups may aspire to social change, it is likely their utopian visions and approaches to societal transformation differ. Here we focus on the functions and expressions of radical imagination across people on the political left. Radical imagination —the tendency to envision a utopian future which departs from established institutions toward liberatory social change— encompasses the tendency to imagine radical futures, the richness with which futures can be envisioned, feelings of connectedness to those futures, support and activism for radical movements, and anti-incremental and solidarity values. In this talk I present qualitative findings from a recent study investigating the use of radical imagination across American Leftists and Liberals, and the role the political imaginary in forming ideas about the future. I focus on the content of both groups’ utopian visions of the future with particular attention paid to themes of solidarity, community, and (anti-)capitalism. I discuss the roles of richness, reference, and abstraction in semantic and episodic simulation. I then discuss the role of radical imagination in predicting political identity, affiliation, and attitudes including system justification, and status quo moralization attitudes among Leftists. I conclude by suggesting that radical imagination is an important aspect of future thinking. I discuss its relation to political ideology, and discuss implications for organizing, coalition-building, and collective action.