Sander van der Linden: Empathy and Climate Change

Decades of research in the behavioral sciences has shown that people are willing to help others in need. What remains unclear, however, is whether people can feel empathy and derive a similar sense of internal ‘warm-glow’ from cooperating in more psychologically distant dilemmas such as climate change and saving the environment. Moreover, although social networks now increasingly allow social causes to reach a large number of interconnected individuals fast, efficiently, and at low cost, little is known about the long-term effects of campaigns that inspire such viral online empathy and prosociality. In his lecture, Sander van der Linden will argue that in order to engage people with the issue of climate change on an emotional level in the long-run, we first need to understand the evolving nature of human morality and altruism in the twenty-first century.

Redelijk Eigenzinnig / Reason and Engage (VUB) is an interdisciplinary course for students and a series of lectures and activities open to all. The fifth edition (2019-2020) focuses on climate action, citizen protests and climate transition. After the lecture of Sander van der Linden, a screening of the film 'Plannen voor plaats' (in Dutch) is organised.