BECC Journal Club
The first BECC (Behavior, Energy & Climate Change) Journal Club is a facilitated discussion of one peer-reviewed article every three months. Read in advance and together we’ll explore key insights, methodological considerations, and implications for research, policy, and implementation.
Journal Club Series — 2026 Schedule
All sessions run 3–4pm ET / 12–1pm PT on the last Tuesday of the month.
- Tuesday, April 28, 2026
- Tuesday, July 28, 2026
- Tuesday, October 27, 2026
July 28, 2026 — Featured Paper
Title: Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
Authors: Madalina Vlasceanu, Kimberly C. Doell, Joseph B. Bak-Coleman, Boryana Todorova, Michael M. Berkebile-Weinberg, Samantha J. Grayson et al.
Abstract: Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert- crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree- planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions’ effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future- generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior—several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people’s initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.
April 28, 2026 — Featured Paper
Title: The i-frame and the s-frame: How focusing on individual-level solutions has led behavioral public policy astray
Authors: Nick Chater and George Loewenstein
Abstract: An influential line of thinking in behavioral science, to which the two authors have long subscribed, is that many of society’s most pressing problems can be addressed cheaply and effectively at the level of the individual, without modifying the system in which the individual operates. We now believe this was a mistake, along with, we suspect, many colleagues in both the academic and policy communities. Results from such interventions have been disappointingly modest. But more importantly, they have guided many (though by no means all) behavioral scientists to frame policy problems in individual, not systemic, terms: To adopt what we call the “i-frame,” rather than the “s-frame.” The difference may be more consequential than i-frame advocates have realized, by deflecting attention and support away from s-frame policies. Indeed, highlighting the i-frame is a long-established objective of corporate opponents of concerted systemic action such as regulation and taxation. We illustrate our argument briefly for six policy problems, and in depth with the examples of climate change, obesity, retirement savings, and pollution from plastic waste. We argue that the most important way in which behavioral scientists can contribute to public policy is by employing their skills to develop and implement value-creating system-level change.
BECC Community Exchange Series
The Journal Club is part of the BECC 2026 Community Exchange Series — rotating monthly online events held on the last Tuesday of each month. More information.
Interested in Sponsoring BECC?
BECC 2026 sponsorship opportunities are available now. Contact Reuven Sussman (conference co-chair) to request a sponsorship prospectus, get more information, or sign up.