Pluralistic ignorance and climate policies: Information provision experiment

This study examines how informational interventions that aim to correct systematic misperceptions of others’ beliefs (i.e., pluralistic ignorance) affect individuals’ willingness to engage in both private and publicly observable behaviors. We investigate this question in the context of carbon taxation using an online experiment with participants in the United States. Specifically, we test whether providing accurate information about public support for carbon taxation influences climate-related actions. While this informational intervention reduced misperceptions, it marginally lowered private climate action, measured by donations to an organization advocating for climate policies, although this effect was not statistically significant. The intervention did not affect the behavior of individuals who underestimated support for carbon taxation but negatively impacted the donation decisions of those who overestimated support, suggesting a boomerang effect. In contrast, the intervention increased public climate action, measured by the minimum reward participants required to attend climate policy discussions with peers. These findings suggest that correcting misperceived norms can generate heterogeneous behavioral responses, depending on individuals’ prior beliefs and the type of action considered.