Wändi Bruine de Bruin

Biography

Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC), and director of the USC Behavioral Science and Well-Being Policy initiative.  Her research aims to understand and inform how people make decisions about their personal health, their carbon footprint, and their household finances. She has published more than 150 peer-reviewed publications on these topics.  She is an editorial board member for the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Perspectives on Psychological Science, the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Decision, Medical Decision Making, the Journal of Risk Research, and Psychology and Aging.  She recently served on the National Academy of Sciences committee on Respiratory Protection for the Public and Workers without Respiratory Protection Programs at their Workplaces. She previously served on expert panels for the National Academy of Sciences on Communicating Science Effectively and for the Council of the Canadian Academies on Health Product Risk Communication. She has been studying risk perceptions and protective behaviors, food insecurity, age differences in mental health, and political polarization during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis.  Other recent projects have focused on public understanding of climate change terminology, the role of social contacts in voting and vaccination behavior and using the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll to understand and inform people’s risk perceptions around the world.

Selected videos

• Presentation at the National Academies of Sciences’ Workshop on the Science of Science Communication
• Highlights from USC Price panel discussion on “The Power of One: Individual Actions to Stem Climate Change” 
• Video in recognition of becoming a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis
• Presentation at Psychonomics about “Perceived analogies of COVID-19” 

Selected publications

• Hodson, N., Parker, J., Sobolev, M., & Bruine de Bruin, W. (2024). “Sludge audits” are needed to reduce barriers to care. British Journal of General Practice, 74, 182-183.
• Bruine de Bruin, W., Rabinovich, L., Weber, K., Babboni, M., Ignon, L., Wald, R., Dean, M., Kashdan, A., & Luz, S. (2024). Improving figures for climate change communications: Insights from interviews with international policy makers. Climatic Change, 177, 1-57.
• Stragà, M., Miani, C., Mäntylä, T., Bruine de Bruin, W., Mottica, M., & Del Missier, F. (2023). Into the wild or into the library? perceived restorativeness of natural and built environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 91, 102131.