Current position
Helen Fischer left the Department for Experimental and Theoretical Psychology, Heidelberg University im April 2019. Please check her personal website: http://helenfischer.net/.
Research interests
I am interested in how people make decisions in the context of dynamic systems and complex situations, particularly in the field of climate change. I am also interested in interdisciplinary research with behavioral economics, particularly concerning the question how individual cognitive resources such as working memory influence behavior when dealing with common property resources.
Publications
Herrmann, A., Fischer, H., Amelung, D., Litvine, D., Aall, C., Andersson, C.,Baltruszewicz, M, Barbier, C., Bruyère, S., Bénévise, F., Dubois, G., Louis, V., Nilsson, M., Richardsen Moberg, K., Sköld, B. & Sauerborn, R. (2017). Household preferences for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in four European
high-income countries: Does health information matter? A mixed-methods study protocol. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 71.
Fischer, H. and Holt, D. V. (2016). When high working memory capacity is and is not beneficial for predicting nonlinear processes.Memory & Cognition, 45(3):404–412
Amelung, D., Fischer, H., Kruse, L. & Sauerborn, R. (2016). Defogging climate change communication: How cognitive research can promote more effective climate communication. Frontiers in Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01340
Herlihly, N., Bar-Hen, A., Verner, G., Fischer, H., Sauerborn, R., Depoux, A., Flahault, A. & Schütte, S. (2016). Climate Change and Human Health: Where Are The Research Trends? A Scoping Review Protocol. BMJ Open.
Hundertmark, J., Holt, D. V., Fischer, A., Said, N., & Fischer, H. (2016). System structure and cognitive
ability as predictors of performance in dynamic system control tasks. Journal of Dynamic Decision Making, 1(1).
Fischer, H. & Gonzalez, C. (2015). Making sense of dynamic systems: How our understanding of stocks and flows depends on a global perspective. Cognitive Science, 40(2), 496–512.
Fischer, H., Degen, C. & Funke, J (2015). Improving stock-flow reasoning with verbal formats. Simulation & Gaming. doi:10.1177/1046878114565058
Fischer, H., Kapmeier, F., Tabacaru, M., Kopainsky, B. (2015). The more you see the less you “get”: On the importance of a higher-level perspective for understanding dynamic systems. Paper presented at the 33rd International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, July 19.23, Cambride, MA.
Degen, C., Kettner, S.E., Fischer, H. , Lohse, H., Funke, J., Schwieren, C., Goeschl, T. & Schröder, J. (2014). Comprehension of climate change and environmental attitudes across the lifespan. Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie.
Grants
[1] FRONTIER (2017) (Exzellenzinitiative „Heidelberg: Realising the Potential of a Comprehensive University“): An Agent-based Modeling Approach to Information Spread in Filter Bubbles (With
Said, N., Potschka, A., Kirches, C.)
[2] Field of Focus 4 (2016):
Self-regulation of common property resources: Using Agent-Based Modeling for Exploration of the Influence of Working
Memory Capacity in CPR Dilemmas (With
Said, N., Kirches, C. & Amelung, D.)
[3] ZUK 5.4 Scientific Computing (2016):
Situational and personal factors that contribute to a better understanding of
climate change (With
Said, N., Amelung, D., Kirches, C., & Körkel, S.)
[4] Field of Focus 4 (2016): Self-regulation of common property resources: Working memory capacity – Can there be too much of a good thing? (With Lohse, J., Goeschl, T. & Funke, J.)
[5] Field of Focus 4 (2014): Self-regulation of common property resources: Cognitive prerequisites for system sustainability. (With Lohse, J., Goeschl, T. & Funke, J.)
Teaching and Supervision
Current and recent classes
- The Psychology of Climate Change: Understanding, decision-making, and problem-solving
- Causality and Climate Change
- Causality in the climate as a complex system—How do humans acquire causal understanding?
Supervision of Master's, and Bachelor's Theses
- Komplexe Problemlösung--der Spiegel meiner Persönlichkeit – BSc thesis, Semantha Ebert
- Kommunikation klimabezogener Daten mittels Graphen – BSc thesis, Maria Doblinger
- Die Abweichung des individuellen vom durchschnittlichen CO2-Fußabdruck als Prädiktor zur Umsetzung emissionresduzierender Maßnahmen – BSc thesis, Seval Akbal
- Implicit and explicit learning in systematically varied dynamic system control tasks – MSc thesis, Jan Hundertmark
- Thematische Präferenzen zur Reduzierung von CO2-Emissionen in Abhängigkeit von soziodemographischen Variablen in europäischen Haushalten – MSc thesis, Alexandra Aldoshina
- Managing renewable resources under cognitive constraints – MSc thesis, Erika Riesebell
Conference contributions
Invited Talks
Fischer, H. (2017, May). Wie (un)verständlich sind die IPCC reports? Ergebnisse von der COP22 IN Marrakesch. Invited talk held at the Heidelberg Center for the Environment.
COP22 Delegation of Heidelber University (2016, Dezember): COP of action? The UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakesh. Invited talk held at the Heidelberg Center for the Environment.
Fischer, H. (2015, March). Lost in Translation: the particular challenges in communicating future risks in climate change. Invited talk held at the Institute of Epidemiology, University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Fischer, H. (2015, December). Understanding Dynamic Systems and Non-Linearity. Invited talk held at the colloquium social psychology, Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg, Germany.
Fischer, H.. & Gonzalez, C. (2015, March). Our understanding of dynamic systems depends on the way we “see” them. Lecture presented at the demadyn 15 in Heidelberg, Germany.
Selected conference contributions
Fischer, H., Amelung D., & Said, N. (2017). The confidence-accuracy relationship in CC knowledge and understanding. Poster at 2017 SJDM Conference, Vancouver, Canada.
Said, N., Fischer, H., Amelung D., & Kirches C. (2017). Using Agent-Based Modeling for Exploration of the Influence of Working Memory Capacity in CPR Dilemmas. Poster presented at MathPsych/ICCM 2017, University of Warwick.
Fischer, H., Amelung, D., & Said, N. (2017).Climate Change and the problem with overconfidence: The difference between perceived and actual understanding. Talk at Cambridge Risk and Uncertainty Conference (RUC), University of Cambridge.
Fischer, H. & Gonzalez, C. (2013). Seeing the forest for the tress predicts accumulation decisions. Poster presented at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science, Society, Berlin, Germany.
Fischer, H. & Gonzalez, C. (2013). Global-local processing predicts decision-making in stock-flow systems. Poster presented at the 25th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, D.C.
Fischer, H. & Degen, C. (2012). Stock-flow failure can be explained by the task format. In E. Huseman & D. Lane (Ed.), Proceedings of the 30th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society (p. 42). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Degen, C., Fischer, H., Kettner, S.E., Lohse, J. & Schröder, J. (2012). CLIMAGE – Klimawandel und Politik in alternden Gesellschaften. Komplexe Klimasysteme, Kognition und finanzielle Beiträge. Vortrag im Rahmen der Heidelberg Center for the Environment-Reihe.
Office hours
On appointment