Leila Scannell

Program affiliation:

Supervisors: Dr. Robert Gifford

Research interests

I am a PhD student in environmental and social psychology. Within these areas, I study three main topics: (1) place attachment – the meaningful bonds we form with places, (2) message framing and the effective communication of climate change issues, and (3) the predictors of pro-environmental behaviour. I am also keenly interested in interpersonal attachment theory, the restorative effects of nature on cognitive functioning and mindfulness, and place perception.

Awards

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS): Doctoral Scholarship 2009-2012
Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Graduate Fellowship 2008- 2010
Lieutenant Governor’s Silver Medal for Outstanding Master’s Thesis 2008
Quality Move Management 2008 Graduate Scholarship

Representative publications and presentations

Scannell, L. & Gifford, R. (in press). The relations between natural and civic place attachment and pro-environmental behavior. The Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Scannell, L., & Grouzet, F. M. E. (2010). The metacognitions of climate change. New Ideas in Psychology, 28, 94-103.

Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (2010). Defining place attachment: A tripartite organizing framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, 1-10.

Gifford, R., Scannell, L., Kormos, C., Smolova, L., Biel, A., Boncu, S., Corral, V., Hanyu, K., Hine, D., Kaiser, F. G., Korpela, K., Mertig, A. G., Mira, R. C., Moser, G., Passafaro, P., Pedroso, L., Pinheiro, J. Q., Saini, S., Sako, T., Sautkina, E., Savina, Y., Schmuck, P., Schultz, W., Sobeck, K., Sundblad, E., & Uzzell, D. (2009). Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 1-12.

Scannell, L., & Gifford, R. (June, 2009). The role of place attachment in receptivity to local and global climate change messages. Oral Presentation, 70th CPA Conference, Montreal.