Research Questions

Our research focuses on understanding social influence and social change, and how this can be used to create scalable interventions to address social problems related to the environment, health, and social inequity. We examine psychological factors that influence behavior and societal change, including the role of social influence, impacts of structural factors on decision-making, identity, moral reasoning, and beliefs about whether change is possible.听View major themes and research questions from our ongoing work and our publications below.

Individuals in a Structural World

  • How do individuals decide to act in complex systems?
  • How do people act to change structures they engage with?
  • How do institutions influence decision-making?
  • How do people allocate responsibility to individuals and institutions?

听Conformity, Resistance, and Currents of Change

  • When are people more or less likely to conform to social norms and trends?
  • How do people perceive or misperceive norms in society?
  • What are people鈥檚 beliefs about the status quo and its alternatives?

Persuasion, Motivation, and Advocacy

  • What forms of advocacy are more influential in shifting public opinion?
  • What kinds of policies or campaigns are effective at changing behavior or mobilizing collective action?
  • What leads people to act on societal issues like climate change, social inequity, and public health?

Selected Publications

Sabherwal, A., & Sparkman, G. (2025).

Loustau, T., Magnus, B., & Sparkman, G. (2025).

Sparkman, G., & Hoffmann, T. (2025).

Sparkman, G., Ginn, J., Attari, S. Z., & Weber, E. U. (2025).

Syropoulos, S., & Sparkman, G. (2025).

Trenfield, M., & Sparkman, G. (2025).

Doell, K. C., Todorova, B., Vlasceanu, M., Bak Coleman, J. B., Pronizius, E., Schumann, P., ... ...Sparkman, G., ..& Lutz, A. E. (2024).听

Syropoulos, S., Sparkman, G., & Constantino, S. M. (2024).

Ginn, J., & Sparkman, G. (2024).

Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., ...Sparkman, G., ...& Lutz, A. E. (2024).

Sabherwal, A., Pearson, A., &听Sparkman, G.听(2021).

Sparkman, G.,听Geiger, N., & Weber, E. U. (2022).

Sparkman, G., Howe, L., & Walton, G. (2021).

Sparkman, G., Lee, N. R., & Macdonald, B. N. (2021).

Sparkman, G., Attari, S., & Weber, E. (2021).听

Sparkman, G., & Walton, G. M. (2017).

Sparkman, G., & Walton, G. M. (2019).

Sparkman, G.听(2020).

Sparkman, G., Weitz, E., Robinson, T. N., Malhotra, N., & Walton, G. M. (2020).

Sparkman, G., Macdonald, B., Caldwell, K., Kateman, B., & Boese, G. (2021).

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