By: Annika Goldman
Wrigley Environmental Communications Intern

Hello and welcome to my first (and hopefully not last) Wrigley blog! My name is Annika Goldman and I am a rising junior at USC double majoring in Communications at Annenberg and Environmental Studies at Dornsife.

At the end of my freshman fall semester (fall 2019), I learned about the Wrigley Institute. As an avid diver and someone who wants to be deeply involved in the fight against the environmental crisis, my heart beat a little faster thinking about all the possibilities that were outlined on the website. I quickly picked up my second major – environmental studies.

However, just as I was ready to throw myself on a boat and head to Catalina, Coronavirus hit and I was back at home on the east coast. My sophomore year also excluded Wrigley as the pandemic continued. Just as I was losing hope about being able to take advantage of this unmatchable resource, I received an email about an internship opportunity, “Wrigley Institute Summer Communications Intern.” A combination of my two majors? Yes please.

While all the research teams sparked my interest, nothing caught my eye like Dr. Joe Arvai’s Decision Lab focusing on the psychology behind decision making in the environmental sphere.
Dr. Arvai is focused on conducting research to collectively understand how individuals and groups instinctively make judgements and decisions. While we all think that we can make the decisions that best represent our values, there are factors we are not aware of that sway our decisions more than our values do. The more aware society is of active decision making and choice architecture, the better and more productive decisions we can all make from the individual to the policy level. Through effective communication, Dr. Arvai and his lab’s research can be spread. My goal was to create shareable content of the concepts their lab is based upon this summer.

I tested my skills and learned more about my strengths and weaknesses in the communications realm. Through close relationships with the leaders of the program and the incredible speakers that came through our Tuesday zooms, I acquired invaluable knowledge about the scientific communication world.

I used these new skills in addition to my communication interests to create a video (longer version than is linked below) exemplifying how the general public can have conservationist values and yet make decisions to contradict that. I got out on the streets to record interviews then spent hours editing and re-editing. Dr. Arvai and I have plans beyond the internship to create a reaction video among his lab when we all get to meet in person!

Additionally, I will be providing him with shorter, shareable snippets of this content for his potential future on Instagram or Tik Tok. Watch out, Charli D’amelio… Joe Arvai is coming for your Tik Tok spot.

Thank you Wrigley Institute for an incredible opportunity. I am leaving this summer not only with content to put into my portfolio, but also with incredible mentors I know will guide me through my next two years at USC. Hopefully I’ll see you all soon… and not over zoom!

P.S. You can watch a short version of my video here!