Affect, (group-based) emotions, and climate change action
Abstract
While there is little scientific doubt that the climate is actually changing, people are relatively averse to taking action. To better understand climate change (in-)action, I will summarize the recent literature that examines the affective and emotional processes associated with climate change. Currently, mainly two routes are discussed: first, the study of affective responses to risk perception and second, conceptualizing climate action as a collective phenomenon. Studies show that personal relevance and perceived importance of environmental issues increase risk perception and that collective environmental actions are driven by group-based emotions. However, instead of focusing mainly on negative affect and (group-based) emotions, such as 'eco guilt' or fear related to climate change, I conclude by suggesting a more optimistic and positive approach to establish new norms of climate-friendly lifestyles and policies.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Climate Change Impacts on Marine Ecosystems
- Assisted Gene Flow to Facilitate Local Adaptation to Climate Change
- Climate Change Effects on Plant Disease: Genomes to Ecosystems
- Biodiversity and Climate Change: Integrating Evolutionary and Ecological Responses of Species and Communities
- A systematic review of climate change education: giving children and young people a ‘voice’ and a ‘hand’ in redressing climate change
- Global Monsoon Dynamics and Climate Change
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.