As global efforts toward sustainability accelerate, the sociotechnical transition underway is often framed as a challenge of innovation and engineering. But, in this keynote, I will make the substantiated argument that our greatest challenge—and opportunity—is to understand and influence human behavior, including its antecedent cognitive, emotional, and social processes. It will be evidentially argued that overreliance on technological fixes—without commensurate coordinated efforts to understand and shift human behavior—has and will continue to slow, if not undermine, sustainability. Moreover, neglect of how people think, feel and act invites a cascade of unintended consequences, including resistance to relevant policies, inequitable distributions of benefits and burdens, and other “side effects” that are delaying and will continue to delay or derail transition to sustainability. So, I will make it self-evident—the reality that the underappreciated psychological science and practice are not peripheral but central to the sociotechnical transition to sustainability. I will examine the essential role of psychology in ensuring that sustainability transitions succeed not only technically but socially. Psychology, as a science of practice, offers evidence-based tools for fostering mindset shifts, collective efficacy, and behavioral adaptation at individual, organizational, and cultural levels. By integrating psychological insights into the design of technologies, sustainable policies, and communities, we can facilitate deeper engagement, adaptive resilience, and long-term cultural change. The talk concludes by envisioning a future where psychology serves as a bridge discipline to deepen, accelerate, and stabilize the sociotechnical transition to a sustainable future and the roles that we—psychologists of all subdisciplines and practices—must play in achieving that future.
Dr. Stanley Asah's research focuses on the social dimensions of clean technologies, emphasizing the role of human behavior in the adoption, diffusion, and social acceptance of these technologies.
His work includes:
- Exploring the adoption, retention, and diffusion of cleaner technologies.
- Investigating the social impacts, justice, and acceptability of these technologies.
- Developing behavioral change strategies and management practices to facilitate the adoption and diffusion of cleaner technologies.
- Conducting experiments to address clean technology-induced counter-productive behaviors.
- Contributing to the development of transformational pathways to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in Canada.
Dr. Asah's research has been recognized with the Canada Research Chair position, reflecting his significant contributions to the field. His work is aimed at improving the understanding and influence of human behaviors in human- environment interactions, ultimately leading to better strategies for encouraging the acceptance and use of clean technologies.
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