Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Roles of Psychological Distance and Emotional Response in Explaining Differences in Perceived Risk and the Climate Change Concern/Intentions Gap

Research examining the extent to which individuals express concern over the threat posed by climate change finds that expressed concern increases if the information is conveyed in a way that makes the impacts "psychologically close" and that this effect is more pronounced among liberal than among conservative respondents. Research also shows that the increased concern does not translate into an increase in actual intentions to engage in mitigation activities. This project applies principles of psychological distance/construal level theory to examine how messages about types of climate impacts/mitigation actions presented in psychologically proximate or distant terms can influence levels of concern, how different emotions elicited by these communications (e.g., fear or anger) may explain the observed response discrepancies with respect to political persuasion, and why there is a disparity between "concern" and "intentions." These research findings are very likely applicable to a variety of social issues. By shedding light on the fundamental mechanisms that influence human perception and decision-making, this project will provide insights into the nature and determinants of the U.S. public's risk perception, emotional responses, policy support, and mitigation intentions related to a variety of issues. The effects of perceived psychological distance (temporal and spatial/social) of climate change (impacts and mitigation efforts) on perceived desirability (concern to ameliorate) and feasibility (behavioral intentions), mediated by emotional responses and self-efficacy, and moderated by cultural worldview, will be tested using the results of an experiment involving a large representative survey. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.