Overcoming Fear: New Research and Strategic Directions for a New Security and Rights Agenda
(PDF, 200 KB, December 2008)
American Environics was hired by a consortium of foundations to conduct research on the underlying social and psychological factors that shape attitudes on national security and human rights. The research drew on 50-plus years of political psychology and included new empirical research. The findings have highly significant implications for national security and human rights policymaking, philanthropy, and advocacy; and also advance the academic understanding of two key concepts, threat assessment and the perceived trade-off between rights and security, in the field of political psychology.

Download the full report here
Focus Group report
Lit Review

Roadmap for a Progressive Majority
(PDF, 1281 KB, November 2008)
An update to American Environics' previous Roadmap 2005, which contains a summary of how American values have evolved since 2004 and the results of the updated segmentation based upon the 2007 American Values Survey.

Global Warming and Renewable Energy Focus Groups Memo
(PDF, 338 KB, November 2007)
A report on focus groups that examined attitudes on global warming by voters who do not view global warming as a top priority.

Nathan Cummings Foundation Global Warming Survey
(PDF, 542 KB, September 2007)
A new poll on global warming released by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, conducted by American Environics and Evans McDonough Research.

Energy Attitudes Summer 2007
(PDF, 1063 KB, June 2007)
An analysis of public opinion research on global warming to benefit policy makers attempting to craft a comprehensive solution to climate change.

Road Map for an Ecological Majority
An updated summary of our work with Earthjustice to create a segmentation of the U.S. population based on ecological beliefs, which then lays out steps to grow an Ecological Majority by activating shared values.

Get Ready: A Plan for Global Warming Preparedness
(PDF, 1.7 MB, November 2006)
Global Warming Preparedness is a Strategic Initiative designed to overcome the fears and doubts about climate change among voters.

Road Map for a Health Justice Majority
(PDF, 984 KB, May 2006)
Our Road Map for the Herndon Alliance is a values segmentation of the U.S. population that identifies the worldviews and opinions that shape support for health care reform.

Health Care Framing Review: The Stories We Tell
(PDF, 240 KB, May 2006)
Our cognitive team produced this report identifying the major narratives about health care in the U.S. and their political implications.

Rx for Health Care Reform
(PPT, 1.3 MB, December 2006)
A summary presentation of our analysis of health care reform narratives, psychographic focus groups and polling, and four Strategic Initiatives on health care.

Toward a Renewed Social Contract: A Proposal in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina
(PDF, 1004 KB, November 2006)
A summary of our work for the Nathan Cummings Foundation with the Center for American Progress and Breakthrough Institute to develop social justice and environmental initiatives in response to Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina as Rorschach Test: The Framing Meta-Narratives
(PDF, 1 MB, November 2006)
A cognitive analysis of the media coverage and general response to Hurricane Katrina, identifying the cognitive models, narratives, and frames present in the post-Katrina debate about reconstruction and preparedness.

Fresh Start: A Plan to Rebuild Lives through Work
(PDF, 1.5 MB, November 2006)
A proposal for a new social contract for the postindustrial economy grounded in the shared American belief in the transformative power of work.

Putting Government Back to Work: A Proposal to Restore Civic Pride
(PDF, 972 MB, November 2006)
A proposal the wake of Hurricane Katrina to develop a civic service agenda that restores America's trust in the character and value of civic institutions.

Social Values Research and Politics
(PDF, 148 KB, April 2006)
An overview of the history of social values research, and the political implications for how values are changing in America today.

The Evolution of Global Values
(PDF, 1.4 MB, April 2006)
How are social values changing worldwide, what are these changes in reaction to, and what kinds of opportunities do they create?

Volume 1, Issue 1
(PDF, 1804 KB, June 2007)
Health Care, Gender, and Work. Guest column by Peter Teague, feature on the work of Dr. Robb Willer.