Climate Change From a Distance: An Analysis of Construal Level and Psychological Distance From Climate Change

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Susie Wang¹  Mark J. Hurlstone¹  Zoe Leviston³  Iain Walker⁴  Carmen Lawrence¹ 

[1] School of Psychology, The University of Western Australia;Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen;School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University;School of Psychology, University of Canberra

关键词: climate change;    pro-environmental behavior;    psychological distance;    construal level theory;    time perspective;    donation behavior;    climate change policy;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00230

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The public perception of climate change as abstract and distant may undermine climate action. According to construal level theory, whether a phenomenon is perceived as psychologically distant or close is associated with whether it is construed as abstract or concrete, respectively. Previous work has established a link between psychological distance and climate action, but the associated role of construal level has yet to be explored in depth. In two representative surveys of Australians ( N = 217 and N = 216), and one experiment ( N = 319), we tested whether construal level and psychological distance from climate change predicted pro-environmental intentions and policy support, and whether manipulating distance and construal increased pro-environmental behaviors such as donations. Results showed that psychological closeness to climate change predicted more engagement in pro-environmental behaviors, while construal level produced inconsistent results, and manipulations of both variables failed to produce increases in pro-environmental behaviors. In contrast with the central tenet of construal level theory, construal level was unrelated to psychological distance in all three studies. Our findings suggest that the hypothesized relationship between construal level and psychological distance may not hold in the context of climate change, and that it may be difficult to change pro-environmental behavior by manipulating these variables.

【 授权许可】

CC BY