Authored by: Lafayette College EGRS 451 group (Caroline Cohen and John Moors)

Date: Spring 2013

Course Instructor: Professor Cohen

Project Links: Memo and Website: http://nexttopproject.wix.com/happy-n-sustainable

Abstract: This project’s research question was: What positive psychology techniques are best suited to influence college students to change their behavior and to live more consciously and proactively about environmental sustainability? With information gathered from psychological research it was established that making people happy is a more effective strategy for long-term sustainable behavior than fear or guilt. This information was used to direct the design of an interactive website that teaches viewers about climate change, sustainability, and positive psychology as it relates to those issues. The accompanying memo details the strategies applied to the website as well as additional information about the background research. The website is currently complete at this stage, but could be taken further by making it more interactive or better connected to similar sites for publicity.

Tags: EGRS 451, Spring 2013, sustainability, (positive) psychology