In stimulating action against climate change, NGOs and government agencies often operate under the assumption that people are not motivated to act because they see climate change as a problem that will affect distant regions in the distant future. While this concept, known as psychological distance, seems intuitive, the researchers report in the journal a land on April 21 that most people see climate change as a major and timely problem, even if its impacts are not immediately noticeable.
“There is no consistent evidence that perceiving climate change as psychologically distant hinders climate action, and studies report mixed results,” write the authors, led by Dr. Anne M. van Valkengoed of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. .
van Valkengoed and his colleagues collected results from public opinion polls that polled people about their views on climate change, some of which included more than 100,000 people from 121 different countries. The surveys showed that more than 50% of the participants believe that climate change is happening now or in the near future and that it will affect their local areas, not just places far away.
The team also analyzed the results of several studies designed to test the relationship between psychological distance and climate action. Of the 26 studies reviewed, only nine found a positive association between psychological distance and climate action. In fact, some studies have shown that seeing climate change as an impact in distant places and communities made people want to take more action. The researchers also found that 25 of 30 studies failed to prove that experimentally decreasing psychological distance increased climate action.
The widespread misconception about the relationship between psychological distance and climate action might actually be impeding progress on climate change mitigation due to social influence, the authors suggest. For example, if people think that climate change is perceived by others as psychologically distant and therefore do not take action, they are less likely to act themselves. Also, they might think that their efforts are futile because real environmental change depends on the combined efforts of many.
“Therefore, we recommend that researchers, communicators, and policymakers focus on how to take advantage of the finding that many people already perceive climate change to be happening in the here and now,” the researchers said.
—————————————————-
Source link