Brügger, A, Rauto Dessai, SX, Devine-Wright, P et al. (2 more authors) (2015) Psychological responses to the proximity of climate change. Nature Climate Change, 5. 1031 - 1037. ISSN 1758-678X
Abstract
A frequent suggestion to increase individuals’ willingness to take action on climate change and to support relevant policies is to highlight its proximal consequences. However, previous studies that have tested this proximising approach have not revealed the expected positive effects on individual action and support for addressing climate change. We present three lines of psychological reasoning that provide compelling arguments as to why highlighting proximal impacts of climate change might not be as effective a way to increase individual mitigation and adaptation efforts as is often assumed. Our contextualisation of the proximising approach within established psychological research suggests that, depending on the particular theoretical perspective one takes to this issue, and on specific individual characteristics suggested by these perspectives, proximising can bring about the intended positive effects, can have no (visible) effect, or can even backfire. Thus, the effects of proximising are much more complex than is commonly assumed. Revealing this complexity contributes to a refined theoretical understanding of the role psychological distance plays in the context of climate change and opens up further avenues for future research and for interventions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Nature Climate Change. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Psychological distance; personal experience; place attachment; threat; risk perception; defensiveness; mitigation; adaptation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 284369 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Sep 2015 10:19 |
Last Modified: | 20 Apr 2016 11:26 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2760 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/nclimate2760 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:90087 |