Climate Change as a National Security Issue: Examining Framing Effects Across Party

Research suggests that framing climate change as a national security issue can shape opinion about climate change. This research is less clear about what exactly constitutes a “national security frame” and what aspects of this frame are most persuasive. We use a survey experiment to compare the relative effects of three types of national security frames we identify. Results show that a frame centered on energy dependence had the strongest effect and was the most consistent across partisanship. Surprisingly, the effects ran in the opposite direction for Democrats and Republicans on both outcomes—negative for Democrats and positive for Republicans. We also show that the energy dependence frame moderated the influence of respondents’ affect toward political candidates and parties on their climate change attitudes. The results suggest that the energy dependence frame can shape public opinion, but that it must be tailored to particular audiences to avoid backfire effects.

Four Europes: Climate change beliefs and attitudes predict behavior and policy preferences using a latent class analysis on 23 countries

Building public will for climate action requires designing messages for different audiences. Previous studies that identified groups based on similar beliefs, behavior, and political preferences related to climate change were in single countries and were not pre-registered. The current study ran latent class analysis on the European Social Survey (ESS 2016, N= 44,387) to identify groups of people according to their climate change attitudes and beliefs in 22 European countries and Israel. We found strong evidence for four groups: Engaged (18%), Conflicted (18%), Indifferent (42%), and Skeptical (21%) and we compare the segment structure and proportions within Europe and to other countries. We identify differences between the groups in values, life satisfaction, and social trust, and then revealed that the groups uniquely predict self-reported behaviors not included in the segmentation. The findings characterize climate change beliefs for all of Europe and guide governments and pan-European bodies in designingeffective communications to promote climate beliefs and actions.

Correlates of Levels of Willingness to Engage in Climate Change Actions in the United States

While the majority of the American public believe climate change is occurring and are worried, few are engaged in climate change action. In this study, we assessed factors associated with the level of willingness to engage in climate change actions using an online, longitudinal US study of adults. Climate change action outcomes included the level of willingness to post materials online, take political actions, talk with peers about climate change, and donate to or help an organization. Predictors included climate change attitudes, environmental attitudes, political ideology, political party affiliation, and demographic variables. Most (72%) of the 644 respondents only talked about climate change with peers a few times a year or less, though 65% were very or extremely worried about climate change. Many respondents indicated a willingness to do somewhat or a lot more, from 38% willing to talk to peers to 25% for willing to take political actions. In multinomial regression models, the Climate Change Concern scale was strongly and consistently associated with willingness to engage in climate change action. These findings indicate a need to both identify those who are willing to act and finding activities that fit with their interests and availability.

Using a News Article to Convey Climate Science Consensus Information

The current study investigates how people respond to a climate science consensus statement embedded within a news article. Participants ( N = 1,048) were randomly assigned to read a news article about climate change, read the same article with a scientific consensus message included, read a simple consensus statement, or a control condition. Participants in consensus conditions had increased perceptions of scientific agreement compared with those who did not receive consensus information. Moreover, the article was similarly effective as an overt consensus statement. However, neither consensus statement affected other climate change attitudes, suggesting the effect may be limited to consensus perceptions.

Alignment of values and political orientations amplifies climate change attitudes and behaviors

Anthropogenic climate change presents an immediate threat, necessitating a rapid shift in climate change relevant behaviors and public policies. A robust literature has identified a number of individual-level determinants of climate change attitudes and behaviors. In particular, political orientations and self-transcendent values are amongst the most consistent and substantive predictors. But, political orientations and individual values do not operate in isolation of each other, and rather are deeply related constructs. Accordingly, this analysis focuses on identifying the direct and interactive effects of political orientations and human values on climate change attitudes and behaviors. Adopting cross-national data from 16 Western European states (2016 ESS), we find that when in alignment, the effect of human values on climate change concern and policy support is amplified by political orientations. The moderating effect of political orientations is most substantive for self-transcendence (positive) and conservation (negative) values.