"Proximising" climate change reconsidered: A construal level theory perspective
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"Proximising" climate change reconsidered : A construal level theory perspective. / Brügger, Adrian; Morton, Thomas A.; Dessai, Suraje.
In: Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol. 46, 01.06.2016, p. 125-142.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - "Proximising" climate change reconsidered
T2 - A construal level theory perspective
AU - Brügger, Adrian
AU - Morton, Thomas A.
AU - Dessai, Suraje
PY - 2016/6/1
Y1 - 2016/6/1
N2 - Reducing the psychological distance of climate change has repeatedly been proposed as one strategy to increase individuals' motivation to respond to climate change. From the perspective of construal level theory, decreasing psychological distance should not itself influence people's willingness to act but change the processes that underlie individual decision-making. We conducted two experiments in which we manipulated the psychological distance of climate change. We found that participants with a distant focus relied more on scepticism to represent risks and make decisions about supporting climate change, whereas participants with a proximal perspective relied more on fear when making such judgements. However, the predicted Fear × Distance interaction was only found when self-reported fear rather than experimentally manipulated fear was used as a moderator. Our results suggest that simply proximising won't increase engagement and call for a more differentiated perspective on the effects of psychological distance in the context of climate change.
AB - Reducing the psychological distance of climate change has repeatedly been proposed as one strategy to increase individuals' motivation to respond to climate change. From the perspective of construal level theory, decreasing psychological distance should not itself influence people's willingness to act but change the processes that underlie individual decision-making. We conducted two experiments in which we manipulated the psychological distance of climate change. We found that participants with a distant focus relied more on scepticism to represent risks and make decisions about supporting climate change, whereas participants with a proximal perspective relied more on fear when making such judgements. However, the predicted Fear × Distance interaction was only found when self-reported fear rather than experimentally manipulated fear was used as a moderator. Our results suggest that simply proximising won't increase engagement and call for a more differentiated perspective on the effects of psychological distance in the context of climate change.
KW - Adaptation
KW - Climate change
KW - Construal level theory
KW - Mitigation
KW - Psychological distance
KW - Risk perception
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84963986355&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.04.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.04.004
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84963986355
VL - 46
SP - 125
EP - 142
JO - Journal of Environmental Psychology
JF - Journal of Environmental Psychology
SN - 0272-4944
ER -
ID: 214450360