What is it about?
This study evaluates the impact of exposure to messages that emphasize the need for changes in individual behavior or in public policy to address climate change. We implemented a large survey-experiment (N=1,915) online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform that manipulated the presence of recommendations for voluntary behavioral changes or the adoption of new laws to mitigate climate change attributed to a “climate scientist” or to an unnamed source.
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Why is it important?
We found that, regardless of the source of the information, recommendations for behavioral changes decreased individuals’ willingness to take personal actions to reduce greenhouse gases, decreased willingness to support pro-climate candidates, reduced belief in the accelerated speed of climate change, and decreased trust in climate scientists.
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This page is a summary of: “Don’t Tell Me What to Do”: Resistance to Climate Change Messages Suggesting Behavior Changes, Weather Climate and Society, October 2020, American Meteorological Society,
DOI: 10.1175/wcas-d-19-0141.1.
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