Current Position:
Associate Senior Lecturer, School of Public Administration, University of Gothenburg
Previous Positions:
Postdoc, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg.
Ph.D. Student, Department of Psychology, University of Gothenburg.
Books
Michaelsen, P., & Sunstein, C. R. (2023). Default Nudges: From People’s Experiences to Policymaking Implications. Palgrave Macmillan. Amazon link
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
Yehle, L., Sundström, A., Michaelsen, P. & Jagers, S. C. (2026). Public support for military conservation: Understanding public opinion to the ‘war on poachers’ in three countries. World Development, 205, 107440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2026.107440
Aczel, B., Szaszi, B., Clelland, H., Kovacs, M., Schulz-Kümpel, H., Holzmeister, F., Nilsonne, G., Hoffmann, S., Kosa, L., Torma, Z. […] Michaelsen, P., […], Fox, N., Errington, T., & Nosek, B. (2026). Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences. Nature, 652, 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09844-9 [Consortium project].
Sonsino, D., Michaelsen, P., Gärling, T., & Jansson, M, (2026). The sober outlook of proficient investors –Characterizing competence through canonical correlation analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology, 113, 102876, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2025.102876
Michaelsen, P., Sundström, A., & Jagers, S. C. (2025).Mass support for conserving 30% of the Earth by 2030: Experimental evidence from five continents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122 (35) e2503355122.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2503355122
Yehle, L., Michaelsen, P., Harring, N., & Jagers, S. C. (2025). Conservation for nature and wildlife’s sake: the effects of (non-)anthropocentric ethical justifications on policy acceptability. Journal of Public Policy, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X24000266
Jansson, M., Michaelsen, P., Sonsino, D., & Gärling, T. (2024). Non-professional and professional investors’ trust in financial analysts’ buy and sell recommendations and their impact on investments. Accepted for publication in Review of Behavioral Finance, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/RBF-07-2023-0191
Michaelsen, P. (2024). Transparency and nudging: An overview and methodological critique of empirical investigations. Behavioural Public Policy, 8(4), 807-817. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2024.7
Gärling, T., Michaelsen, P., & Gamble, A. (2022). Overspending on smartphone purchases among Swedish young adults. Nordic Psychology, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/19012276.2022.2085159
Michaelsen, P., Nyström, L., Luke., T. J., & Hedesström, M. (2021). Downstream Consequences of Disclosing Defaults: Influences on Perceptions of Choice Architects and Subsequent Behavior. Comprehensive Results in Social Psychology, 5: 1-3, 25-48. https://doi.org/10.1080/23743603.2021.1983720
Michaelsen, P., Johansson, L-O., & Hedesström, M. (2021/2024). Experiencing default nudges: Autonomy, manipulation and choice-satisfaction as judged by people themselves. Behavioural Public Policy, 8, 85-106. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2021.5
Gärling, T., Fang, D., Holmen, M., & Michaelsen, P. (2021). Fast and Slow Investments in Asset Markets: Influences on Risk Taking. Journal of Behavioral Finance, 22(1), 84-96. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427560.2020.1747071
Gärling, T., Fang, D., Holmén, M., & Michaelsen, P. (2020). Financial risk-taking related to individual risk preference, social comparison and competition. Review of Behavioral Finance, 1-16. https://doi-org/10.1108/RBF-11-2019-0153
Gärling, T., Michaelsen, P., Gamble, A. (2020). Young adults’ borrowing to purchases of desired consumer products related to present‐biased temporal discounting, attitude towards borrowing and financial involvement and knowledge. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 44, 131– 139. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.12552
Gamble, A., Gärling, T., & Michaelsen, P. (2019) Young Adults’ Attitudes Toward Borrowing, In J. Carlsson Hauff, T. Gärling, & T. Lindblom (Eds.) Indebtedness in Early Adulthood: Causes and Remedies (pp. 65-87). Palgrave Macmillan.
Gamble, A., Gärling, T., & Michaelsen, P. (2019). Young Adults’ Consumption Desires, Feelings of Financial Scarcity and Borrowing, In J. Carlsson Hauff, T. Gärling, & T. Lindblom (Eds.) Indebtedness in Early Adulthood: Causes and Remedies (pp. 89-108). Palgrave Macmillan.
Selected Work in Progress:
Michaelsen, P., Tvinnereim, E., K. S., Sundström A., & Jagers, S. C. What motivates public support for “30-by-30”? Open-ended answers from eight countries.
Michaelsen, P., Nyström, L., Luke., T. J., & Hedesström, M. Policy transparency should rarely improve perceptions of legitimacy.
Michaelsen, P. Extending the policy relevance of pro-environmental behavior change interventions: Subjective experiences as intervention outcomes..
Michaelsen, P., Simonovic, D., Sandlund, I., & Bergquist, M. Subjective experiences of behaviorally informed interventions: Insights from a field experiment aiming to reduce food waste at a hotel breakfast buffet.