Mentor: Dr. Leaf Van Boven
Education
- PhD, Social Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder, expected 2026
- MA, Social Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder, 2024
- BA, Psychology, California State University, Monterey Bay, 2017
Research Interests
Psychological barriers to climate change solutions arise when we see them as unnatural, risky, unknown, unfamiliar, and lacking benefits. For solutions to be effective, we need to understand how people make decisions in the context of the environment and how human behavior change factors into every part the environmental movement. That's what my work in social/environmental psychology aims to do. Under the mentorship of Dr. Leaf Van Boven, my research seeks to inform policy-makers, innovators, communicators, and stakeholders about how people make decisions about climate change solutions and risks.
Publications
Gonzalez Coffin, S., Eichhorst, W., Carrico, A. R., Inbar, Y., Newton, P., & Van Boven, L. (2024). Perceived naturalness predicts public support for sustainable protein technology. Climatic Change, 177(2), 29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-024-03679-5
Unfried, A., Kirby, A., & Coffin, S. (2018, April). Developing a student survey of motivational attitudes toward statistics [Conference paper presentation]. Joint Statistical Meeting Conference 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.