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All Outputs (36)

Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy (2014)
Journal Article
Parkhill, K., Butler, C., Demski, C., Pidgeon, N., Pidgeon, N., Demski, C., Butler, C., Parkhill, K., & Spence, A. (2014). Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(Supplement_4), 13606-13613. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1317512111

This paper examines some of the science communication challenges involved when designing and conducting public deliberation processes on issues of national importance. We take as our illustrative case study a recent research project investigating pub... Read More about Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy.

Smart grids, smart users? The role of the user in demand side management (2014)
Journal Article
Goulden, M., Bedwell, B., RODDEN, T., Rennick-Egglestone, S., & Spence, A. (2014). Smart grids, smart users? The role of the user in demand side management. Energy Research and Social Science, 2, 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2014.04.008

Smart grids are a key feature of future energy scenarios, with the overarching goal of better aligning energy generation and demand. The work presented here considers the role of the user in such systems, and the contexts in which such roles might em... Read More about Smart grids, smart users? The role of the user in demand side management.

Engaging with energy reduction: Does a climate change frame have the potential for achieving broader sustainable behaviour? (2013)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Leygue, C., Bedwell, B., & O'Malley, C. (2014). Engaging with energy reduction: Does a climate change frame have the potential for achieving broader sustainable behaviour?. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 38, 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.12.006

Reducing energy use is key in meeting ambitious climate change targets being set around the world. This research considers the psychological impact, and potential for behavioural spillover, resulting from receiving energy information framed in terms... Read More about Engaging with energy reduction: Does a climate change frame have the potential for achieving broader sustainable behaviour?.

The psychological distance of climate change (2012)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. (2012). The psychological distance of climate change. Risk Analysis, 32(6), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-%C2%AD%E2%80%906924.2011.01695.x

Avoiding dangerous climate change is one of the most urgent social risk issues we face today and understanding related public perceptions is critical to engaging the public with the major societal transformations required in order to combat climate c... Read More about The psychological distance of climate change.

Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience (2011)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Poortinga, W., Butler, C., & Pidgeon, N. (2011). Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience. Nature Climate Change, 1(1),

One of the reasons that people may not take action to mitigate climate change is that they lack first-hand experience of its potential consequences. From this perspective, individuals who have direct experience of phenomena that may be linked to clim... Read More about Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience.

Public perceptions of energy choices: the influence of beliefs about climate change and the environment (2010)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Poortinga, W., Pidgeon, N., & Lorenzoni, I. (2010). Public perceptions of energy choices: the influence of beliefs about climate change and the environment. Energy and Environment, 21(5), https://doi.org/10.1260/0958-305X.21.5.385

Past research has documented high levels of public concern for risks relating to nuclear power, with opposition to nuclear energy particularly being linked with general environmental concern. However recent UK energy policy, and other debates worldwi... Read More about Public perceptions of energy choices: the influence of beliefs about climate change and the environment.

Framing and communicating climate change: the effects of distance and outcome frame manipulations (2010)
Journal Article
Spence, A., & Pidgeon, N. (2010). Framing and communicating climate change: the effects of distance and outcome frame manipulations. Global Environmental Change, 20(4), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2010.07.002

Communications regarding climate change are increasingly being utilised in order to encourage sustainable behaviour and the way that these are framed can significantly alter the impact that they have on the recipient. This experimental study seeks t... Read More about Framing and communicating climate change: the effects of distance and outcome frame manipulations.

Climate change – psychology’s contribution (2009)
Journal Article
Spence, A., Pidgeon, N., & Uzzell, D. (2009). Climate change – psychology’s contribution. Psychologist, 21,

Climate change is a word on everybody’s lips at the moment. But, what role can we, as psychologists, both individually and within our sub-disciplinary groups play in reducing and adapting to the impacts of society’s ‘carbon footprint’? This article... Read More about Climate change – psychology’s contribution.

Acceptability of blood and blood substitutes (2008)
Journal Article
Ferguson, E., Prowse, C., Townsend, E., Spence, A., van Hilten, J., & Lowe, K. (2008). Acceptability of blood and blood substitutes. Journal of Internal Medicine, 263(3), 244-255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2007.01897.x

Alternatives to donor blood have been developed in part to meet increasing demand. However, new biotechnologies are often associated with increased perceptions of risk and low acceptance. This paper reviews developments of alternatives and presents d... Read More about Acceptability of blood and blood substitutes.

Examining consumer behaviour toward genetically modified (GM) food in Britain (2006)
Journal Article
Spence, A., & Townsend, E. (2006). Examining consumer behaviour toward genetically modified (GM) food in Britain. Risk Analysis, 26(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2006.00777.x

This study examined behaviour towards genetically modified (GM) food in a British community-based sample. We used an equivalent gain task in which participants actually received the options they chose to encourage truthful responding. In conjunction... Read More about Examining consumer behaviour toward genetically modified (GM) food in Britain.

Implicit attitudes towards Genetically Modified (GM) foods: a comparison of context-free and context-dependent evaluations (2006)
Journal Article
Spence, A., & Townsend, E. (2006). Implicit attitudes towards Genetically Modified (GM) foods: a comparison of context-free and context-dependent evaluations. Appetite, 46(2), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2005.09.003

Past research on attitudes towards GM food has focused on measuring explicit attitudes. Here we compared implicit attitudes towards GM foods with explicit attitudes towards GM foods. We used the Go No-Go task to investigate context-free implicit eval... Read More about Implicit attitudes towards Genetically Modified (GM) foods: a comparison of context-free and context-dependent evaluations.

Spontaneous evaluations: similarities and differences between the affect heuristic and implicit attitudes
Journal Article
Spence, A., & Townsend, E. Spontaneous evaluations: similarities and differences between the affect heuristic and implicit attitudes. Cognition and Emotion, 22(1), https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930701298432

The affect heuristic and implicit attitudes are two separate concepts that have arisen within different literatures but that have a number of similarities. This paper compares these two constructs with the aim of clarifying exactly what they are and... Read More about Spontaneous evaluations: similarities and differences between the affect heuristic and implicit attitudes.