Prof. Helweg-Larsen is a Professor of Psychology at Dickinson College and holds the Glenn E. & Mary Line Todd Chair in the Social Sciences; she also directs the Social Identity and Risk Lab. She uses social psychological methods to examine why smart people do dumb things.
She has examined the causes, consequences, and correlates of optimistic bias (thinking you are less at risk than others), focusing on how emotions, cognitions, and behaviors are affected by whether we over- or underestimate our risks. In two NIH-funded grants, she has examined cross-culturally how moralized beliefs about smoking affect risk perceptions and quitting intentions as well as the effects of stigmatization on smokers’ willingness to quit smoking. That is, if smokers feel stigmatized, are they more interested in quitting?
During the pandemic, Prof. Helweg-Larsen has been a highly sought-after expert to explain how biases undermine our capacity to assess risks. She has been interviewed about risk by the New York Times and NPR’s Marketplace and she is a frequent guest on NPR member stations across the US. In addition, she has discussed in print media, radio, and television in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Denmark what makes for a happy country and people. And the role Danish concepts such as hygge, pyt, samfundssind, and overskud might play.
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