Optimism as a source of renewable energy in the transition towards a fossil-free society - research

The goal of the project is to let people create a concrete vision of a worthwhile, attractive future world. A world to that one wants to contribute. To this end, they use positive psychology exercises that invite people to imagine a beautiful, sustainable world in which we, all together, have managed to deal with the climate crisis successfully. What does this world look like for you, what are the elements in it? How have we managed to get there? How do you behave in this worthwhile future world, and what have you done to make it possible? They use Artificial Intelligence to make people’s worthwhile future worlds more concrete and are currently piloting with techniques to make the experience more immersive and adaptable. 

Project leaders Nicole Geschwind and Marjolein Hanssen from the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience received a contribution from the SUM2030 Seed Funds to collaborate on this project with Mark Sanders and Job Zomerplaag from the School of Business and Economics, Ahmed Hussain, and Gijs Wijngaard from the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Meanwhile, they have managed to obtain funding to integrate the project into the Psychology Bachelor (Comenius, Geschwind and Hanssen) and to do research on the “Best Possible Self” exercise, one of the core positive psychology exercises underlying the project (NWO-XS, Hanssen). In addition, they received a prize for pitching the project at the prestigious UM gala dinner (funded by SWOL).