Decision Research

Research Scientists

Anthony Leiserowitz, Ph.D.

is Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change, a research scientist at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University, and a research scientist at Decision Research. He is a widely recognized expert on American and international public opinion on global warming, including public perception of climate change risks, support and opposition for climate policies, and willingness to make individual behavioral change. His research investigates the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that drive public environmental perception and behavior.

He has conducted survey, experimental, and field research at scales ranging from the global to the local, including international studies, the United States, individual states (Alaska and Florida), municipalities (New York City), and with the Inupiaq Eskimo of Northwest Alaska. He also recently conducted the first empirical assessment of worldwide public values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding global sustainability, including environmental protection, economic growth, and human development.

He has served as a consultant to the John F. Kennedy School of Government (Harvard University), the United Nations Development Program, the Gallup World Poll, the Global Roundtable on Climate Change at the Earth Institute (Columbia University), and the World Economic Forum.

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Curriculum Vitae

Research

I am a geographer trained in the cognitive and social psychology of risk perception and decision making. My research is strongly interdisciplinary and seeks to understand the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that shape human environmental perception, decision making and behavior. My current research is focused on three broad themes: Global Climate Change; Sustainability Values, Attitudes and Behaviors; and Interpretive Communities of Risk.

Recent Publications

Zhao, X., Leiserowitz, A., Maibach, E., & Roser-Renouf, C. (in press). Attention to science/environment news positively predicts and attention to political news negatively predicts global warming risk perceptions and policy support. Journal of Communication.

Leiserowitz, A. (2010). Climate change risk perceptions and behavior in the United States. In S. Schneider, A. Rosencranz, & M. Mastrandrea (Eds.), Climate change science and policy. Washington, D. C.: Island Press.

Liu, C.-E., & Leiserowitz, A. (2009). Environmental attitudes and behavior in urban China. Environment, 51(4), 32-45.

Hart, P., & Leiserowitz, A. (2009). Finding the teachable moment: An analysis of information-seeking behavior on global warming related websites during the release of The Day After Tomorrow. Environmental Communication, 3, 355-366.

Maibach, E. W., Roser-Renouf, C., & Leiserowitz, A. (2008). Communication and marketing as climate change-intervention assets: A public health perspective. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35, 488-500.

Leiserowitz, A., & Fernandez, L. (2008) Toward a new consciousness: Values to sustain human and natural communities. Environment, 50(5), 62-69.

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