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Peer-reviewed article

Psychological Reactance From Reading Basic Facts on Climate Change: The Role of Prior Views and Political Identification

January 1, 2019 | Media and Technology, Public Programs

Scholars continue to search for solutions to shift climate change skeptics’ views on climate science and policy. However, research has shown that certain audiences are resistant to change regarding environmental issues. To explore this issue further, we examine the presence of reactance among different audiences in response to simple, yet prominently used, climate change messages. Our results show that emphasizing the scientific consensus of climate change produces reactance, but only among people who question the existence of climate change. Moreover, adding political identification to the model as an additional moderating variable shows the increases in reactance occur among Republicans who question the existence of climate change. Finally, our results show that reactance to climate change messaging may lead to backfiring effects on important outcomes tied to climate change such as risk perceptions, climate change beliefs, and support for mitigation policies.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Yanni Ma
    Author
    Washington State University
  • Graham Dixon
    Author
    The Ohio State University
  • Jay Hmielowski
    Author
    University of Florida
  • Citation

    DOI : 10.1080/17524032.2018.1548369
    ISSN : 1752-4040
    Publication Name: Environmental Communication
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: Climate
    Audience: General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals | Scientists
    Environment Type: Media and Technology | Public Programs

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