A 27-country test of communicating the scientific consensus on climate change
Communicating the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is real increases climate change beliefs, worry and support for public action in the United States. In this preregistered experiment, we tested two scientific consensus messages, a classic message on the reality of human-caused climate change and an updated message additionally emphasizing scientific agreement that climate change is a crisis. Across online convenience samples from 27 countries (n = 10,527), the classic message substantially reduces misperceptions (d = 0.47, 95% CI (0.41, 0.52)) and slightly increases climate change beliefs (from d = 0.06, 95% CI (0.01, 0.11) to d = 0.10, 95% CI (0.04, 0.15)) and worry (d = 0.05, 95% CI (-0.01, 0.10)) but not support for public action directly. The updated message is equally effective but provides no added value. Both messages are more effective for audiences with lower message familiarity and higher misperceptions, including those with lower trust in climate scientists and right-leaning ideologies. Overall, scientific consensus messaging is an effective, non-polarizing tool for changing misperceptions, beliefs and worry across different audiences.
Authors
- Mathew P. White (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4168-7289)
- Andrea Catania (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9814-3914)
- Sandra J. Geiger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3262-5609)
- A Krug (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9050-9519)
- Thomas Lind Andersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4220-1674)
- Frida Berglund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6219-5016)
- Frantis̆ek Bartos̆ (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0018-5573)
- Margaret Broyles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3521-1465)
- Airu Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-0341-6679)
- Frenk van Harreveld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3717-2773)
- Bastiaan T. Rutjens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3163-4156)
- Eman Farahat (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6467-8599)
- Federica Stablum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9712-9123)
- Binahayati Rusyidi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4870-9177)
- Kai Ruggeri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8470-101X)
- Justus Schmidt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4286-4571)
- Sander van der Linden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0269-1744)
- Alaa Aldoh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1988-0661)
- Magdalena Chorzępa
- Bojana Većkalov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8477-1261)
- Amanda Remsö (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4715-7000)
- Felicia Pohl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4103-3689)
- Mariem Younssi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3739-7795)
- Aleša Bratina Zimic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7499-2896)
- Siri Joustra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8532-9093)
- Živa Krajnc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-5589-1400)
- Johanna Löloff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2085-7514)
- Sasha Newman-Oktan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8577-9133)
- Celeste Paerels
- Rachel Papirmeister (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1611-280X)
- Steven Peregrina
- Abigail Roh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2321-2311)
- Mariam Shavgulidze (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7757-0207)
- Valentina Vellinho Nardin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0927-5804)
- Miranda Wattier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6305-4198)
- Berkan Akın
- Jinhao Bai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6865-1465)
- Divya Natarajan
- Elena Niehoff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5826-6760)
- Gesine Jordan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2635-9922)
- Jakob Götz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1802-4556)
- Jonas Klingebiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3482-6707)
- Bat Hoter-Ishay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8069-264X)
- Kelly Coryn Warner
- Chloe Wong
- Ruixiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9438-0744)
Institutions
- Eötvös Loránd University (HU)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Austrian Institute of Economic Research (AT)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- University of Ljubljana (SI)
- Tel Aviv University (IL)
- University of Mannheim (DE)
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- University of Luxembourg (LU)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- University of Trento (IT)
- Kristianstad University (SE)
- University of Malta (MT)
- Université Côte d'Azur (FR)
- Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ)
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Mental Health Services (DK)
- Copenhagen University Hospital (DK)
- University of Maribor (SI)
- University of Warwick (GB)
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (NL)
- Complexity Science Hub (AT)
- Laboratoire d'Anthropologie et de Psychologie Cognitives et Sociales (FR)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Computer Science (CZ)
- University of Warsaw (PL)
- Columbia University (US)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Padjadjaran University (ID)
- Barnard College (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Published
- 2024-08-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01928-2
- Citations
- 36
- Primary Topic
- Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 40.75
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Université du Luxembourg
- Universiteit van Amsterdam
- Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge