{"id":301165,"date":"2024-02-11T12:45:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-11T11:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301165"},"modified":"2024-02-11T12:45:05","modified_gmt":"2024-02-11T11:45:05","slug":"study-psychological-interventions-do-not-work-on-climate-skeptics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=301165","title":{"rendered":"Study: Psychological Interventions Do Not Work on Climate Skeptics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essay by Eric Worrall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study authors suggest \u201ctop down interventions\u201d will be required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Doom and gloom\u2019 don\u2019t change stubborn climate change denial<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Dan Holmes<\/a>
Friday February 9, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate change denial remains difficult to challenge despite the scientific consensus and availability of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new behavioural science study<\/a> suggests this means governments need to put more attention to \u201ctop-down\u201d approaches to addressing climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some did change behaviour, this varied based on country, initial climate beliefs, and which outcome was being measured. For instance, \u201cdoom and gloom\u201d climate communications made people more likely to share climate information, but less likely to plant trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNegative emotion induction intervention appeared to backfire on policy support among participants with low initial climate beliefs,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese results suggest that climate scientists should carefully consider the differential effects of the prevalent fear-inducing writing styles on different pro-climate outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTop-down change might need to be prioritised to achieve the emissions reduction necessary to stay within safe planetary limits for human civilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Read more: https:\/\/www.themandarin.com.au\/239189-doom-and-gloom-dont-change-stubborn-climate-change-denial\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The abstract of the study;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MADALINA VLASCEANU<\/a> , KIMBERLY C. DOELL<\/a> , JOSEPH B. BAK-COLEMAN<\/a> , BORYANA TODOROVA<\/a>, MICHAEL M. BERKEBILE-WEINBERG<\/a>, SAMANTHA J. GRAYSON<\/a>, YASH PATEL<\/a>, DANIELLE GOLDWERT<\/a>, YIFEI PEI<\/a>, [\u2026]<\/strong>, AND JAY J. VAN BAVEL<\/a>  +248 authors <\/strong>Authors Info & Affiliations<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCIENCE ADVANCES<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 Feb 2024
Vol 10, Issue 6<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions\u2019 effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior\u2014several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people\u2019s initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.Read more: https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adj5778<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m surprised it took a study to verify the premise that stepping up the doom and gloom will not persuade people who think the climate crisis is nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t believe in the tooth fairy, would stepping up the doomsday rhetoric persuade you to put your teeth under the pillow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alternative, \u201ctop down interventions\u201d, in my opinion is rather threatening, the velvet being stripped from the steel fist. We\u2019re going to make you put your teeth under the pillow, and if you refuse, you\u2019ll have lots of spare teeth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The study authors suggest \u201ctop down interventions\u201d will be required.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":301167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The study authors suggest \u201ctop down interventions\u201d will be required.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691825589,691826860,691826859,691818149],"class_list":{"0":"post-301165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-climate-skeptics","9":"tag-doom-and-gloom","10":"tag-psychological-interventions","11":"tag-scientific-consensus","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/5a5436f0f53a43c494bb1c21e57170fb.jpeg?fit=1600%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1glv","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":292725,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=292725","url_meta":{"origin":301165,"position":0},"title":"Grist: LGBTQ+ Outreach Therapy Might Help Climate Deniers","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"27\/12\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Why people still fall for fake news about climate change","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Adam-Pulicicchio-Dec-30-17-Jones-Public-Library-East-Toronto-Drag-Queens-Storytime-08-1680x0-c-default.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Adam-Pulicicchio-Dec-30-17-Jones-Public-Library-East-Toronto-Drag-Queens-Storytime-08-1680x0-c-default.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Adam-Pulicicchio-Dec-30-17-Jones-Public-Library-East-Toronto-Drag-Queens-Storytime-08-1680x0-c-default.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Adam-Pulicicchio-Dec-30-17-Jones-Public-Library-East-Toronto-Drag-Queens-Storytime-08-1680x0-c-default.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/0Adam-Pulicicchio-Dec-30-17-Jones-Public-Library-East-Toronto-Drag-Queens-Storytime-08-1680x0-c-default.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":290358,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=290358","url_meta":{"origin":301165,"position":1},"title":"Why Won\u2019t those Troglodytes Trust Us and How, How, How! 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