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This paper provides a systematic overview of the psychosocial contribution to decarbonization studies and critically discusses current trends. Following the PRISMA protocol, we reviewed 404 articles informing how socio-psychological processes affect decarbonization, and vice versa, and highlighting research gaps and biases. Contrary to criticisms about methodological individualism and reductionism of socio-psychological research on sustainability, the review illustrates that the field is equally attentive to psychosocial processes operating at different levels, including the individual (e.g., attitudes, stress, environmental concerns), community (e.g., collective identity, justice, sense of place), and socio-cultural levels (e.g., social norms, values, memory). However, evidence shows some problematic trends in the literature: (i) A bias toward specific agents and geographies, which overlooks mesoscale actors (e.g., media, unions, NGOs) and developing and eastern countries; (ii) instrumental and normative views of transitions, which coincide with a prevailing focus on cognitive processes and a selective bias toward technologies, policies, places, and natural resources conceived as instrumental to decarbonization. This also emphasizes how biophysical processes, people–nature relationships, and the role of emotions in understanding the psychology of agents and decarbonization processes are almost absent; (iii) a research gaze normatively oriented toward the future, which risks neglecting continuity–discontinuity dynamics and the timing and pace of transitions.

In the scientific literature on energy transition toward decarbonization, the learning process is often described as a preferred way to achieve change. However, despite a large number of theoretical and empirical endeavors, a systematic understanding of the process is still lacking due to the diversity of disciplines and approaches and to the multi-layered nature of the phenomenon. The aim of this systematic review is to highlight the dimensions of learning processes from a cultural psychological point of view in order to understand and assess different planes of the relation between humans and technology. We thus explore the literature following the PRISMA protocol. Through a narrative synthesis, we critically assess the theoretical and methodological advancement, the presence of cultural determinants, the value ascribed to agency, and the depoliticization risk. We found that: theories and methodologies still lack systematicity and concordance in their application; learning processes are studied with little focus on the context and are mostly treated as facilitators; agency mostly lacks a psychosocial focus, despite the exploration of multi-level problems; and the depoliticization of learning is a matter of fact. Nevertheless, positive examples are present, although they are few. Epistemological and political implications are discussed, and a psychosocial conception of agency is proposed, together with a reflective stance for researchers.