Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20601
Title: The Future is Now: Reducing Psychological Distance to Increase Public Engagement with Climate Change
Contributor(s): Jones, Charlotte (author); Hine, Don W  (author)orcid ; Marks, Anthony  (author)
Publication Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1111/risa.12601
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/20601
Abstract: Many people perceive climate change as psychologically distant - a set of uncertain events that might occur far in the future, impacting distant places and affecting people dissimilar to themselves. In this study, we employed construal level theory to investigate whether a climate change communication intervention could increase public engagement by reducing the psychological distance of climate change. Australian residents (N = 333) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: one framed to increase psychological distance to climate change (distal frame), and the other framed to reduce psychological distance (proximal frame). Participants then completed measures of psychological distance of climate change impacts, climate change concern, and intentions to engage in mitigation behavior. Principal components analysis indicated that psychological distance to climate change was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of four components: geographic, temporal, social, and uncertainty. Path analysis revealed the effect of the treatment frame on climate change concern and intentions was fully mediated by psychological distance dimensions related to uncertainty and social distance. Our results suggest that climate communications framed to reduce psychological distance represent a promising strategy for increasing public engagement with climate change.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Risk Analysis, 37(2), p. 331-341
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc
Place of Publication: United States of America
ISSN: 1539-6924
0272-4332
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 170202 Decision Making
170113 Social and Community Psychology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 520402 Decision making
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 960302 Climate Change Mitigation Strategies
960311 Social Impacts of Climate Change and Variability
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 190301 Climate change mitigation strategies
190103 Social impacts of climate change and variability
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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