What We Think Others Think and Do About Climate Change: A Multicountry Test of Pluralistic Ignorance and Public-Consensus Messaging

Autor:in

Geiger, Sandra; Koehler, Jana; Delabrida, Zenith N. C.; Garduño Realivazquez, Karla; Palacios Haugestad, Christian; Imada, Hirotaka; Iyer, Aishwarya; Maharja, Carya; Mann, Daniel; Marczak, Michalina; Melville, Olivia; Nijssen, Sari R. R.; Powdthavee, Nattavudh; Praptiwi, Radisti; Ranade, Gargi; Rosa, Claudio; Vitale, Valeria; Winkowska, Malgorzata; Zhang, Lei; White, Mathew P.

Abstrakt

Most people believe in human-caused climate change, yet this public consensus can be collectively underestimated (pluralistic ignorance). Across two studies using primary data (n = 3,653 adult participants; 11 countries) and secondary data (ns = 60,230 and 22,496 adult participants; 55 countries), we tested (a) the generalizability of pluralistic ignorance about climate-change beliefs, (b) the effects of a public-consensus intervention on climate action, and (c) the possibility that cultural tightness-looseness might serve as a country-level predictor of pluralistic ignorance. In Study 1, people across 11 countries underestimated the prevalence of proclimate views by at least 7.5% in Indonesia (90% credible interval, or CrI = [5.0, 10.1]), and up to 20.8% in Brazil (90% CrI = [18.2, 23.4]. Providing information about the actual public consensus on climate change was largely ineffective, except for a slight increase in willingness to express one's proclimate opinion, delta = 0.05 (90% CrI = [-0.02, 0.11]). In Study 2, pluralistic ignorance about willingness to contribute financially to fight climate change was slightly more pronounced in looser than tighter cultures, highlighting the particular need for pluralistic-ignorance research in these countries.

Dokumententyp

Originalarbeit

Open Access Type

Hybrid

DOI

10.1177/09567976251335585

PubMed ID

MEDLINE:40403301