“If it weren’t for COVID-19…”: Counterfactual arguments influence support for climate change policies via cross-domain moral licensing or moral consistency effects

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Mauro Bertolotti¹  Luca Guido Valla¹  Patrizia Catellani¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan

关键词: COVID - 19;    Climate chage;    counterfactual communication;    moral licensing;    Moral credits;    Moral consistency;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1005813

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

In two studies, we investigated whether counterfactual messages (i.e., “If… then…”) on the economic costs of past public policies influence support for future climate change policies. In Study 1, we tested whether the effect of upward counterfactual messages depended on their referring (or not) to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results showed lower support for a future climate change policy when the past expenses evoked by the upward counterfactual messages were attributed to COVID-19. In Study 2, we combined upward counterfactuals with downward counterfactuals presenting past economic efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as a moral credit. Results showed that exposure to downward counterfactuals decreased support for climate change policies among participants with low endorsement of anti-COVID-19 measures, whereas it increased support among participants with high endorsement. Discussion focuses on the conditions under which counterfactual communication may activate cross-dimensional moral licensing or moral consistency effects, influencing support for climate change policies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY