Climate change skepticism as a psychological coping strategy

Haltinner, Kristin; Sarathchandra, Dilshani

doi:10.1111/soc4.12586

Cited by 60 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 58 publications

(72 reference statements)

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“…This reaction is also known as the "ostrich effect." Overwhelmed by negative information, people can feel paralyzed and start ignoring certain information (Haltinner and Sarathchandra 2018). This observation goes in line with the notion of cognitive dissonance where individuals may rationalize, underplay, or distort information to suit their personal interests and reduce the psychological discomfort resulting from holding contradictory beliefs or desires (e.g., choosing climate action vs. comfort or pleasure) (Schrems and Upham 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Barriers, emotions, and motivational levers for lifestyle transformation in Norwegian household decarbonization pathways

et al. 2021

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Meeting the Paris Agreement targets requires strong near-term climate change mitigation in all sectors of the economy. Increasing demand-side emission abatement efforts is one important area to pursue, yet there are significant barriers that must be overcome in order to realize its potential. We ask: What barriers may be hindering deep emissions reduction at the household level? What kinds of levers are available to achieve emission reductions? Based on an original and extensive qualitative dataset, our in-depth study of households in Bergen, Norway, shows that individuals perceive they are confronted with considerable individual, economic, and infrastructural barriers that prevent them from taking deep mitigation actions. Our results however also suggest that some barriers can be overcome with motivational levers such as the availability of more sustainable alternatives, support networks and by the positive emotions felt when having a positive impact on the environment. Other barriers are more difficult to overcome, pointing to the overarching lesson from our study that households will need to be forced or incentivized beyond voluntary efforts to achieve rapid and comprehensive decarbonization. The current policy approach, aimed mostly at nudging for voluntary mitigation actions, is wholly inadequate to achieve significant emission reductions. Our study indicates that households are open for increasingly including more “sticks” into climate policymaking. While there are significant challenges to individuals taking stronger mitigation action, these can be overcome by strengthening government policies targeting the patterns and, importantly, volumes of household consumption.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Barriers, emotions, and motivational levers for lifestyle transformation in Norwegian household decarbonization pathways

et al. 2021

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“…Analogously, in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, some people might be persuaded by genetics research showing the lineage of the COVID-19 pathogen and, in turn, benefit from more comprehensive biological explanations of our lack of resistance to it. As with climate change, sometimes denial is the result of feeling overwhelmed by the problem (Haltinner & Sarathchandra, 2018). A nuanced, multi-faceted approach to gaining consensus on the challenge is likely required to get alignment on the solutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analytic-thinking predicts hoax beliefs and helping behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Stanley

Barr

Peters³

et al. 2020

Thinking & Reasoning

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The COVID-19 outbreak was labeled a global pandemic by the WHO in March of 2020. During that same month, the number of confirmed cases and the death rate grew exponentially in the United States, creating a serious publichealth emergency. Unfortunately, many Americans dismissed the pandemic as a hoax and failed to properly engage in helpful behaviors like social-distancing and increased hand-washing. Here, we examine a dispositionengagement in analytic-thinking-that might predict beliefs that the pandemic is a hoax and failures to change behavior in positive ways during that critical early period in March. Our results indicate that individuals less likely to engage effortful, deliberative, and reflective cognitive processes were more likely to believe the pandemic was a hoax and less likely to have recently engaged in social-distancing and hand-washing in March. We discuss possible implications of these results for understanding and addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

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“…A case example is Prager [95]. However, climate skepticism has been explored as partly resulting from maladaptive coping methods with this difficult issue [96], and the emotional tone in the aforementioned arguments often hints at this direction [76].…”

Section: Anxiety Sensitivity and "Trait Anxiety"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety

2020

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Eco-anxiety and climate anxiety are widely discussed in contemporary media and are subjects of growing research interest. However, there is a lack of research about the definitions and variations of these phenomena. This article analyzes various views of eco-anxiety from a wide range of disciplines. Insights from various anxiety theories are used to discuss empirical studies about forms of eco-anxiety. The article points out that uncertainty, unpredictability, and uncontrollability seem to be important factors in eco-anxiety. Most forms of eco-anxiety appear to be non-clinical, but cases of “pathological” eco-anxiety are also discussed. Other relevant terms and phenomena are scrutinized, such as ecological grief, solastalgia, and ecological trauma. The relationship between studies on eco-anxiety and research about ecological emotions and affect is probed. Eco-anxiety is found to be closely connected to fear and worry, but several disciplines include discussion of its character as existential anxiety. Psychosocial and sociological perspectives point out that social dynamics shape forms of eco-anxiety in profound ways. While paralyzing forms of eco-anxiety emerge as a problem, it is noted that eco-anxiety manifests itself also as “practical anxiety”, which leads to gathering of new information and reassessment of behavior options. This variety of forms of eco-anxiety should be taken into account in healthcare and public discussion.

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Climate change skepticism as a psychological coping strategy

Cited by 60 publications

References 58 publications

Barriers, emotions, and motivational levers for lifestyle transformation in Norwegian household decarbonization pathways

Barriers, emotions, and motivational levers for lifestyle transformation in Norwegian household decarbonization pathways

Analytic-thinking predicts hoax beliefs and helping behaviors in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Anxiety and the Ecological Crisis: An Analysis of Eco-Anxiety and Climate Anxiety

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