| Alexander Maki, PhD Social Psychologist |
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Welcome!
I'm a scientist and educator, investigating how to help people protect the natural environment, take care of their health, and become civically engaged.
Currently, I'm a Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the United States Congress. My fellowship is administered by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Most recently, I was an interdisciplinary postdoctoral researcher with the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment and the Climate Change Research Network. I received my PhD in Social Psychology, with an emphasis in Quantitative Methods, from the University of Minnesota in 2015. |
Social science has a lot to offer the world. That's why I'm passionate about using social theory and policy to understand and influence behavior change. How can we design behavior change "interventions" that help more people engage in positive behaviors over time? And how can we turn these interventions into effective social policies?
Properly addressing pressing social issues, such as climate change or improving community health, often requires that many people engage in numerous, positive behaviors. For example, we need communities, not just individuals, to conserve energy, and we need people to both conserve energy and conserve water. Currently, many behavior change efforts target the single behavior of an individual (e.g., persuading an office employee to turn off their computer monitor when leaving work for the day). As a scholar concerned about changing behavior, I think we may be selling ourselves short.
Given the need to improve how we help groups of people change multiple behaviors, I investigate how and when behaviors spread from one individual to another within a group or community (e.g., Maki & Raimi, 2017). For example, who talks to their family members about saving energy at home, and which strategies do they use to influence their family members' behaviors? Additionally, I examine why people consistently engage in different types of behaviors ("behavior spillover"; e.g., Maki & Rothman, 2017). Why might someone recycle different consumer products, but fail to conserve energy at home?
I also explore the factors linked to why people succeed or fail at maintaining their behavior over time (e.g., Maki, Burns, Ha, & Rothman, 2016). Many environmental, prosocial (e.g., volunteering), and health behaviors need to be engaged in over time to produce desired outcomes. Although social science research often focuses on what leads to immediate change in behavior, it's vitally important that we also help people maintain their behavior over time.
Finally, I have been increasingly exploring how people perceive social policies, and why statistical summarizing of research on behavior change interventions ("meta-analysis") is a promising route to improving social policies.
Properly addressing pressing social issues, such as climate change or improving community health, often requires that many people engage in numerous, positive behaviors. For example, we need communities, not just individuals, to conserve energy, and we need people to both conserve energy and conserve water. Currently, many behavior change efforts target the single behavior of an individual (e.g., persuading an office employee to turn off their computer monitor when leaving work for the day). As a scholar concerned about changing behavior, I think we may be selling ourselves short.
Given the need to improve how we help groups of people change multiple behaviors, I investigate how and when behaviors spread from one individual to another within a group or community (e.g., Maki & Raimi, 2017). For example, who talks to their family members about saving energy at home, and which strategies do they use to influence their family members' behaviors? Additionally, I examine why people consistently engage in different types of behaviors ("behavior spillover"; e.g., Maki & Rothman, 2017). Why might someone recycle different consumer products, but fail to conserve energy at home?
I also explore the factors linked to why people succeed or fail at maintaining their behavior over time (e.g., Maki, Burns, Ha, & Rothman, 2016). Many environmental, prosocial (e.g., volunteering), and health behaviors need to be engaged in over time to produce desired outcomes. Although social science research often focuses on what leads to immediate change in behavior, it's vitally important that we also help people maintain their behavior over time.
Finally, I have been increasingly exploring how people perceive social policies, and why statistical summarizing of research on behavior change interventions ("meta-analysis") is a promising route to improving social policies.
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Latest updates:
August 7, 2o18: My colleagues and I have a new paper available exploring how and why employers try to influence employee environmental actions at home. July 18, 2018: My colleagues and I have a new paper available exploring individual differences linked to engagement in online communities. June 28, 2018: I discuss my experience publishing op-eds in the Washington Post and Scientific American in this article by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. |
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About Me
I'm a Minnesota native, where I grew up playing basketball, baseball, and tennis. I have always been a huge geek, and enjoy obsessing over Tolkien, Marvel, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the catalogs of my favorite musicians. To offset that geekiness, I enjoy spending time outdoors, often looking for new places to hike, camp, and bike.
I also love traveling. I lived in Australia for six months, and have visited Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. I'm always looking to add to the list.
I also love traveling. I lived in Australia for six months, and have visited Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, New Zealand, Spain, and Sweden. I'm always looking to add to the list.
Email: alexander.arm.maki@gmail.com
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