Study: Psychological Interventions Do Not Work on Climate Skeptics
This is the kind of psychological blather, justifying indoctrination, that should worry anyone who believes in the Constitution.
Study: Psychological Interventions Do Not Work on Climate Skeptics
CLIMATE PROPAGANDACLIMATE UGLINESSOPINION
Study: Psychological Interventions Do Not Work on Climate Skeptics
Essay by Eric Worrall
The study authors suggest “top down interventions” will be required.
‘Doom and gloom’ don’t change stubborn climate change denial
By Dan Holmes
Friday February 9, 2024Climate change denial remains difficult to challenge despite the scientific consensus and availability of information.
A new behavioural science study suggests this means governments need to put more attention to “top-down” approaches to addressing climate change.
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While some did change behaviour, this varied based on country, initial climate beliefs, and which outcome was being measured. For instance, “doom and gloom” climate communications made people more likely to share climate information, but less likely to plant trees.
“Negative emotion induction intervention appeared to backfire on policy support among participants with low initial climate beliefs,” they said.
“These results suggest that climate scientists should carefully consider the differential effects of the prevalent fear-inducing writing styles on different pro-climate outcomes.”
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“Top-down change might need to be prioritised to achieve the emissions reduction necessary to stay within safe planetary limits for human civilisation.
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Read more: https://www.themandarin.com.au/239189-doom-and-gloom-dont-change-stubborn-climate-change-denial/
The abstract of the study;
Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries
MADALINA VLASCEANU , KIMBERLY C. DOELL , JOSEPH B. BAK-COLEMAN , BORYANA TODOROVA, MICHAEL M. BERKEBILE-WEINBERG, SAMANTHA J. GRAYSON, YASH PATEL, DANIELLE GOLDWERT, YIFEI PEI, […], AND JAY J. VAN BAVEL +248 authors Authors Info & Affiliations
SCIENCE ADVANCES
7 Feb 2024
Vol 10, Issue 6Abstract
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’ 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—several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people’s 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
I’m 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.
If you don’t believe in the tooth fairy, would stepping up the doomsday rhetoric persuade you to put your teeth under the pillow?
The alternative, “top down interventions”, in my opinion is rather threatening, the velvet being stripped from the steel fist. We’re going to make you put your teeth under the pillow, and if you refuse, you’ll have lots of spare teeth?