Conservatives and liberals may disagree on their views on environmental issues, but a new psychology study shows that framing the need to address climate change as patriotic and necessary to preserve the American “way of life” can increase belief in climate change and support for pro-environmental policies among both groups.
“Framing climate action as a way to protect and preserve patriotic values and familiar ways of life can enhance climate awareness and motivate action across the American political spectrum,” says Katherine Mason, a doctoral student at New York University and lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). “This approach encourages people to see climate action as a way to celebrate and maintain cherished cultural traditions, rather than having to give them up or replace them.”
The results, which come from an experiment involving 50,000 people in 60 countries, showed that such messages had similar, though smaller, effects among liberals in some countries, such as France and Chile, and among conservatives in Israel and Chile. However, it had counterproductive effects among conservatives in other countries, notably Belgium, Germany and Russia.
Overall, the findings contradict much of the current pro-environmental messaging, which often focuses on apocalyptic scenarios, overhauling our socio-economic system or radically altering our consumption habits.
“It is crucial to avoid triggering…existential threats, as these can motivate systemic defensiveness and a backlash against pro-environmental initiatives,” write the authors, who also included John Jost, a professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University, and Madalina Vlasceanu, an adjunct professor at New York University at the time of the study and now at Stanford University.
In it PNAS In the study, participants were told that they would be asked to read some information, report on their beliefs and behaviours, and write a short paragraph. To ensure a common understanding of climate change, they were given the following definition: “Climate change is the phenomenon that describes the fact that the global average temperature has increased over the past 150 years and is likely to increase further in the future.”
Participants assigned to the control condition then read a literary passage from Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel. Great expectationsthat made no reference to climate. In the “framing” condition, participants read a message intended to increase feelings of connection to the existing social system by linking the nation’s “way of life” to natural and cultural traditions and communicating that climate change poses a threat that requires patriotic, pro-environmental action to “protect and preserve” the national heritage “as it should be.” The message, which was accompanied by photographs of cities, natural resources, people, and flags, was tailored to include country-specific terms.
Participants in the control and framing conditions were then asked to answer questions related to belief in climate change, support for pro-environmental policies, and willingness to share climate information on social media.
Among American participants, those who read the patriotic/status quo message showed greater belief in climate change, more support for pro-environmental policies, and greater willingness to share climate information on social media relative to the control group. Moreover, this message was equally effective for conservatives and liberals.
“Climate change is a challenge that urgently needs to be addressed,” Mason said. “Our approach tested ways to communicate climate change information that resonate with people’s pre-existing values and beliefs. Crucially, these results suggest that messages that align with preferences for maintaining the status quo can improve climate awareness and action not only among conservatives—whose attitudes are more in tune with those messages—but also among liberals.”
In the article, the researchers offer a detailed analysis of the results from other nations, highlighting similarities and differences with the American sample and possible reasons for them.
Katherine Mason was supported by a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Award at the time of the research (DGE-2234660).