Robert Gifford
- Media Contact
My research interests are at the interface of environmental, social, and personality psychology. I try to combine all three areas in studies of resource management, social judgment and cognition, nonverbal behaviour, and the perception of architecture. I also develop tools to measure personality, environmental, and social constructs. My goal is to combine these interests into studies that simultaneously advance theory and improve built and natural environments.
My lab, the Environmental, Social and Personality Psychology Lab, mainly focuses on environmental, social, and personality psychology, but is firmly committed to the idea that understanding and solving scientific and societal problems also requires knowledge and expertise from other social sciences, natural sciences, applied sciences, and policy experts.
Primary Interests:
- Applied Social Psychology
- Causal Attribution
- Close Relationships
- Health Psychology
- Interpersonal Processes
- Nonverbal Behavior
- Person Perception
- Personality, Individual Differences
Research Group or Laboratory:
- Environmental, Social and Personality Psychology Laboratory
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Video Gallery
The Psychology of Climate Action and Inaction
Select video to watch
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50:00 The Psychology of Climate Action and Inaction
Length: 50:00
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1:43 "Faces of University of Victoria Research" Interview
Length: 1:43
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1:01 Dragons of Inaction
Length: 1:01
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1:46 Why Is Psychology So Important to Climate Change Mitigation?
Length: 1:46
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2:36:33 The Dragons of Inaction Podcast
Length: 2:36:33
Books:
- Gifford, R. (2013). Environmental psychology: Principles and practice (5th ed.). Colville, WA: Optimal Books.
- Gifford, R. (Ed.). (2016). Research methods for environmental psychology. New York: Wiley Blackwell.
- Gifford, R. (Ed.). (1991). Applied psychology: Variety and opportunity. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Journal Articles:
- Gifford, R. (2008). Psychology’s essential role in alleviating the impacts of climate change. Canadian Psychology/psychologie canadienne, 49, 273-280.
- Gifford, R. (1994). A lens-mapping framework for understanding the encoding and decoding of interpersonal dispositions in nonverbal behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 398-412.
- Gifford, R. (1991). Mapping nonverbal behavior on the interpersonal circle. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 279-288.
- Gifford, R., & Hine, D. W. (1994). The role of verbal behavior in the encoding and decoding of interpersonal dispositions. Journal of Personality, 28, 115-132.
- Hine, D. W., & Gifford, R. (1996). Attributions about self and others in commons dilemmas. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 429-445.
- Hine, D. W., & Gifford, R. (1996). Individual restraint and group efficiency in commons dilemmas: The effects of uncertainty and risk-seeking. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 26, 993-1009.
- Shaw, K. T., & Gifford, R. (1994). Residents' and burglars' assessment of risk from defensible space cues. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 14, 177-194.
- Veitch, J. A., & Gifford, R. (1996). Choice, perceived control, and performance decrements in the physical environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 269-276.
Other Publications:
- Gifford, R. (1997). Environmental psychology. In J. Santrock (Ed.), Psychology (5th edition).
- Gifford, R. (1994). Environmental psychology. In the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior (Vol. 2). Academic Press.
- Gifford, R., & Martin, M. (1991). A multiple sclerosis centre program and post-occupancy evaluation. In W. F. E. Preiser, & J. Vischer (Eds.), Design innovation: The challenge of cultural change. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Courses Taught:
- Advanced Environmental Psychology
- Consumer Psychology
- Environmental Psychology
Robert Gifford
Department of Psychology
University of Victoria
P.O. Box 3050
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3P5
Canada
- Phone: (250) 721-7532
- Fax: (250) 721-8929