Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

3-2022

Abstract

The impacts of climate change on human cultures have received increasing attention in recent years. However, the extent to which people are aware of these impacts, whether such awareness motivates climate action, and what kinds of people show stronger awareness are rarely understood. The present investigation provides the very first set of answers to these questions. In two studies (with a student sample with N = 199 from Singapore and a demographically representative sample with N = 625 from the USA), we observed a generally high level of awareness among our participants. Most importantly, perceived cultural impacts of climate change robustly predicted intentions to engage in climate change mitigation behavior and climate activism, as well as support for climate policy. We also found expected associations between perceived cultural impacts and some psychological and demographic variables (e.g., cosmopolitan orientation, moral inclusion, political orientation). These findings not only add a cultural dimension to the research on public understanding of climate change but also reveal a viable application of cultural frames as an effective climate communication strategy.

Keywords

Climate change, Culture, Perceived impact, Climate opinion, Climate activism, Climate policy

Discipline

Applied Behavior Analysis | Environmental Sciences | Social Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Climatic Change

Volume

171

Issue

1-2

First Page

1

Last Page

22

ISSN

0165-0009

Identifier

10.1007/s10584-022-03337-8

Publisher

Springer

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-022-03337-8

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