Prof. Dr. Sonja Geiger
Professorship of Psychology and Marketing in the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sector
| sonja.geiger(at)hnee.de | |
| Phone | +49 3334 657-358 |
| Location | City Campus | Schicklerstrasse 5 | 16225 Eberswalde |
| Room | 01.218.2 |
| Office Hours | Tuesdays, 1pm-2pm |
- Psychological and ethical influences on sustainable (nutritional) behaviour
- Interventions for sustainable nutritional behaviour and nutritional education
- Marketing sustainable food
- Transdisciplinary project: Vision development for food systems of the future
- Empirical methods of social and consumer research and statistics
I supervise theses on the following topics:
- The influence of time affluence and mindfulness on sustainable eating habits
- Justice, fairness and gender aspects in individual and structural measures for climate protection
- Environmental awareness, closeness to nature and emotional factors influencing sustainable behaviour
- Marketing concepts for sustainable products and their suppliers
- Psychological models of action for explaining and promoting sustainable (nutritional) behaviour
- Health aspects of sustainable lifestyles: mindfulness, health behaviour and well-being
- Subjective perception of time, time wealth and sustainable behaviour
- Measurement of latent complex constructs (e.g. sustainable behaviour, environmental awareness, environmental knowledge)
- Participatory research methods (e.g. co-design approaches, citizen science data collection)
Greenpeace Sustainability Barometer 2025
Involvement, in particular, in the design and further development of the questionnaire, as well as in the statistical analyses. The focus is on issues of justice and emotions relating to climate change.
BMBF-funded citizen science project: MeinDing! - I am what I (don’t) have - A participatory project promoting a resource-efficient lifestyle
Real-World Lab Project Funded by the State of Baden-Württemberg: Dietenheim Zieht An! Das Reallabor Zu Nachhaltiger Textilwirtschaft
Chair of Psychology and Marketing in Sustainable Agriculture and the Food Industry at HNE since December 1, 2024
Tenured Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, Murdoch University, Perth
Research Assistant (tenured) at the Chair of Health Services Research at Justus Liebig University Giessen (until March 2023)
Habilitation in psychology with a focus on social, economic, and environmental psychology, TU Berlin
Titel der Habilitationsschrift: „Changing Ways to Foster Sustainable Consumption.
From Environmental Knowledge to Meditation“
Research Associate at the Chair of Sustainable Consumption, TU Berlin
Research Assistant at the Department of Social Psychology / Differential Psychology, University of Ulm
Appointed member of the Climate Task Force of the German Psychological Society (DGPs)
Full Member of the German Psychological Society (DGPs), Environmental Psychology Section
Supporting Member of the IPU Initiative: Psychologists for Environmental Protection
Wichmann, C. S., Fischer, D., Geiger, S. M., Honorato-Zimmer, D., Knickmeier, K., Kruse, K., ... & Thiel, M. (2022). Promoting pro-environmental behavior through citizen science? A case study with Chilean schoolchildren on marine plastic pollution.
Marine Policy, 105035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2022.105035
Spangenberger, P., Krüger, J. M., Geiger, S. M., Reuth, G. F., Baumann, L., & Nebel, S. (2025). Compassion is key: How virtually embodying nature increases connectedness to nature.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 102, 102521. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102521
Spangenberger, P., Geiger, S. M., & Freytag, S.-C. (2022). Becoming nature: effets of embodying a tree in immersive virtual reality on nature relatedness.
Nielsen, K. S., Bauer, J. M., Debnath, R., Emogor, C. A., Geiger, S. M., Ghai, S., ... & Hahnel, U. J. (2024). Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries.
Nature Climate Change, 14(11), 1136-1143. doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02130-y
Geiger, S. M., Freudenstein, J.-P., Jorck, G. von, Gerold, S., & Schrader, U. (2021). Time wealth: Measurement, drivers and consequences.
Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 2, 100015. doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100015
Wowra, P., Joanes, T., Geiger, S., & Gwozdz, W. (2024). Fleischkonsum hängt von der Situation ab: Eine Tagebuchstudie über intra-und interindividuelle Assoziationen. Situations matter: A diary study on situational and personal factors of meat consumption
Ernährungs Umschau, 17(12), 182-192.
Schaupp, J., & Geiger, S.M. (2021). Mindfulness as a path to fostering time affluence and well-being.
Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. Advance online publication. doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12298
Spangenberger, P., Freytag S.-C.& Geiger, S.M. (2024). Embodying nature in immersive virtual reality: Are multisensory stimuli vital to affect nature connectedness and pro-environmental behaviour?
Computer & Education,212, 104964, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2023.104964
Bamberg, S.; Fischer, D. & Geiger, S.M. (2021). Editorial: The Role of the Individual in the Great Transformation Toward Sustainability.
Frontiers in Psychology: Environmental Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.710897
Gerold, S.& Geiger S.M. (2024). How to enhance time wealth? Insights from changes in time use and working conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown in Germany.
Social Indicator Research, 171 (1), 349-371, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03252-0
Frick, V; Gossen, M; Santarius, T, & Geiger, S.M. (2021). When your shop says #lessismore. A field and laboratory intervention on online communication for clothing sufficiency.
Journal of Environmental Psychology. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101595
Geiger, S.M., Fischer, D., Grossman, P., Schrader U. (2020). Meditating for the planet. Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on sustainable consumption behaviors.
Environment and Behavior. 52 (9), 1012-1042, doi:10.1177/0013916519880897
Harrach, C; Geiger, S.M.; Schrader, U. (2020): Sustainability Empowerment in the Workplace: Determinants and Effects.
Sustainability Management Forum. doi:10.1007/s00550-020-00505
Geiger, S.M., Grossman, P., Schrader, U. (2019). Mindfulness and sustainability. Correlation or causation?
Current Opinion in Psychology. 28:23–27 doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.09.010
Stanszus, L., Frank, P., Geiger, S.M. (2019). Healthy eating and sustainable nutrition through mindfulness. Mixed methods results of a controlled intervention study.
Appetite. doi:0.1016/j.appet.2019.104325
Iran, S., Geiger, S. M., & Schrader, U. (2019). Collaborative fashion consumption – A cross-cultural study between Tehran and Berlin.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 212, 313–323. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.11.163
Geiger, S.M., Fischer, D., Schrader, U. (2018). Measuring what matters in sustainable consumption: an integrative framework for the selection of relevant behaviors.
Sustainable Development, 26 (1), 18-33. doi:10.1002/sd.1688
Geiger, S.M., Otto, S., Schrader, U. (2018). Mindfully green and healthy, an indirect path to ecological conservation.
Frontiers in Psychology: Environmental Psychology. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02306
Böhme, T, Stanszus, L., Geiger, S.M., Schrader, U., Fischer, D. (2018). Mindfulness Training at School: A Way to Engage Adolescents with Sustainable Consumption?
Sustainability, 10(10), 3557. doi:10.3390/su10103557
Geiger, S.M., Keller, J. (2017). Shopping for clothes and the sensitivity for the suffering of others: The role of compassion and values in sustainable fashion consumption.
Environment and Behavior, 50 (10), 1119-1144. doi:10.1177/0013916517732109
Fischer D, Böhme, T., Geiger, S.M. (2017) Measuring Young Consumers’ Sustainable Consumption Behavior: Development and Validation of the YCSCB Scale.
Young Consumers, 18 (3), 312-326. doi:10.1108/YC-03-2017-00671
Geiger, S.M., Otto, S., Diaz Marin J. (2014). A short environmental knowledge scale for diagnostic use in Latin America.
Psyecology, 5(1), 1-36. doi:10.1080/21711976.2014.881664