After receiving his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Rochester, Tim Kasser accepted a position at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, where he taught for 24 years before retiring as an Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He has written over 125 scientific articles and book chapters on materialism, values, goals, ecological sustainability, motivation, consumer capitalism, and quality of life, among other topics. He has also authored five books, including The High Price of Materialism (MIT Press, 2002) and the cartoon book HyperCapitalism (The New Press, 2018). Tim’s work includes extensive consultations with activist and civil society organizations that protect children from commercialization, that promote ecological sustainability, and that encourage a more “inwardly rich” lifestyle than what is offered by consumerism. Tim lives with his wife and assorted animals in the countryside of New York’s Southern Tier.
Tim Kasser Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Psychology
Knox College
Areas of Expertise
Publications
Brown, K. W., & Kasser, T. (2005). Are psychological and ecological well-being compatible? The role of values, mindfulness, and lifestyle. Social Indicators Research, 74, 349-368.
Crompton, T., & Kasser, T. (2009). Meeting environmental challenges: The role of human identity. Godalming, UK: WWF-UK.
Kasser, T., & Brown, K. W. (2009). A scientific approach to Voluntary Simplicity. In C. Andrews & W. Urbanska (Eds.), Less is more: Embracing simplicity for a healthy planet, a caring economy, and lasting happiness (pp. 35-40). Gabriola Island, Canada: New Society Publishers.
Kasser, T. (2009e). Shifting values in response to climate change. In R. Engelman, M. Renner, & J. Sawin (Eds.), 2009 State of the World: Into a warming world (pp. 122-125). New York: W. W. Norton & Co.
Kasser, T. (2009b). Values and ecological sustainability: Recent research and policy possibilities. In S. R. Kellert & J. G. Speth (Eds.), The coming transformation: Values to sustain human and natural communities (pp. 180-204). New Haven, CT: Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
Kasser, T. (2009a). Psychological need satisfaction, personal well-being, and ecological sustainability. Ecopsychology, 1, 175-180.
Crompton, T., & Kasser, T. (2010). Human identity: A missing link in environmental campaigning. Environment: Science & Policy for Sustainable Development, 52, 23-33.
Sheldon, K. M., Nichols, C. P., & Kasser, T. (2011). Americans recommend smaller ecological footprints when reminded of intrinsic American values of self-expression, family, and generosity. Ecopsychology, 3, 97-104.
Kasser, T., & Crompton, T. (2011). Limitations of environmental campaigning based on values for money, image, and status: Eight psychologists reflect on the disagreement between the Value Modes and Common Cause approaches. Common Cause Briefing available at www.valueandframes.org.
Kasser, T. (2011b). Ecological challenges, materialistic values, and social change. In R. Biswas-Diener (Ed.), Positive psychology as social change (pp. 89-108). Dordrecht: Springer.
Kasser, T. (2011a). Cultural values and the well-being of future generations: A cross-national study. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 42, 206-215.
Chilton, P., Crompton, T., Kasser, T., Maio, G., & Nolan, A. (2012). Communicating bigger-than-self problems to extrinsically-oriented audiences. Common Cause Briefing available at www.valueandframes.org.
Matthey, A., & Kasser, T. (2013). Values, food and bags: A study of consumption decisions in a laboratory supermarket. Jena Economics Research Papers, No. 2013-007. Kasser, T. (2013c). The deadline script in environmental communications. Solutions, 4 (4), 1.
Hurst, M., Dittmar, H., Bond, R., & Kasser, T. (2013). The relationship between materialistic values and environmental attitudes and behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 257-269.
Crompton, T., Weinstein, N., Sanderson, B., Kasser, T., Maio, G., & Henderson, S. (2014). No cause is an island: How people are influenced by values regardless of the cause. Common Cause Foundation. Downloadable at http://valuesandframes.org/downloads/.
Kasser, T. (2017b). Living both well and sustainably: A review of the literature, with some reflections on future research, interventions, and policy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences, 375.
Costanza, R., Atkins, P. W. B., Bolton, M. Cork, S., Grigg, N. J., Kasser, T., & Kubiszewski, I. (2017a). Overcoming societal addictions: What can we learn from individual therapies? Ecological Economics, 131, 543-550.
Tagkaloglou, S., & Kasser, T. (2018). Increasing collaborative, pro-environmental activism: The roles of Motivational Interviewing, self-determined motivation, and self-efficacy. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 58, 86-92.
Kasser, T., Maynard, D., & Perry, A. (2019). An experimental laboratory test of the effects of alternative indicators of progress. Social Indicators Research, 143, 901-915.
Chambers, I., Costanza, R., Zingus, L., Cork, S., Hernandez, M., Sofiullah, A., Htwe, T. Z., Kenny, D., Atkins, P., Kasser, T., Kubiszewski, I., Liao, Y., Maung, A. C., Yuan, K., Finnigan, D., & Harte, S. (2019). A public opinion survey of four future scenarios for Australia in 2050. Futures, 107, 119-132.
Kasser, T., Tricarico, E., Boyle, D., & Simms, A. (2020). Advertising’s role in climate and ecological degradation: What does the scientific research have to say? London, UK: New Weather Institute and Possible.
Parker, N., Kasser, T., Gatersleben, B., & Druckman, A. (2021). Associations of pro-environmental behaviours with hedonic and eudemonic well-being among young, working adults from three European nations. European Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 5, 19, 1-13.
Kasser, T., Guillen Royo, M., Vinas i Bardolet, C., & Simms, A. (2021). Advertising and demand for Sports Utility Vehicles: Demand for SUVs among UK residents is positively related to their exposure to SUV adverts but unrelated to their exposure to pro-ecological transport messages. London, UK: New Weather Institute.