Joseph Reser

The Threat of Climate Change: Psychological Response, Adaptation, and Impacts

This chapter examines the existing social and health science literature addressing the psychological impacts of the threat of climate change. The exercise reflects a convergent environmental, social, and health psychology perspective, informed by those interdisciplinary bodies of work relating to the social construction and representation of environmental threat; psychosocial environmental impact assessment and monitoring; public and mental health; risk communication and perception; and disaster preparedness and response. Attention is also paid to public understandings of the phenomenon and threat of global climate change, and popular culture discourse and reflections about the psychological and mental health responses to and impacts of ‘climate change’. The chapter indirectly addresses the unfolding physical environmental impacts of climate change and corresponding psychological, social, and societal consequences, but the principal focus is on public exposure and response to the phenomenon of climate change through multimedia representations of this phenomenon and limited direct experience. The larger context of this chapter and the present coverage is the post–Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and the continuing neglect of the psychological, social, and cultural in research and policy considerations and initiatives addressing human and environmental quality, sustainability, and health. The chapter concludes with a brief consideration of what psychology has contributed and can contribute in addressing psychological adaptation to the threat of climate change.

Are People High in Skepticism About Anthropogenic Climate Change Necessarily Resistant to Influence? Some Cause for Optimism

A sizable minority of people doubt that climate change is primarily caused by human activity (“attribution skeptics”). Consequently, it is important to examine the psychological drivers of pro-environmental intentions among attribution skeptics and the extent to which they are more or less influenced by traditional climate change messages. Study 1 (N = 4,345) examined the psychological correlates of motivation to engage in pro-environmental behaviors among people at various points of the spectrum of belief in anthropogenic climate change. As expected, motivation to engage in pro-environmental behaviors is related to risk perceptions and concern about the consequences of climate change. Interestingly, however, these links were stronger the more participants reported being skeptical that climate change is anthropogenic. This suggests that climate change interventions might be especially successful in changing pro-environmental motivation among attribution skeptics, a prediction supported by an experimental intervention (Study 2; N = 600). Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.