“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”: Resistance to Climate Change Messages Suggesting Behavior Changes

Palm, Risa; Bolsen, Toby; Kingsland, Justin T.

doi:10.1175/wcas-d-19-0141.1

Cited by 40 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Actions with greater mitigation potential reflect greater lifestyle changes and challenges for adoption. It is perhaps then not surprising a recent survey found that participants responded negatively to statements that individuals should take mitigation actions, finding it more palatable that other actors such as industry and businesses should be the ones taking action (Palm et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…57,59 Experimental evidence appears to support this conclusion. Palm et al, 240 for example, observe that messages framed in terms of individual behavior not only ''decreased individuals' willingness to take personal actions'' but also ''decreased willingness to [take collective action such as to] support pro-climate candidates, reduced belief in the accelerated speed of climate change, and decreased trust in climate scientists.'' Illustrations of how narratives of individualized responsibility have protected fossil fuel interests from climate action are widespread.…”

Section: Individualized Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Conversely, it is also possible that source expertise might be more influential with a more technical and complex message as in the absence of ability or motivation to fully comprehend the message, source expertise might be a heuristic for the likely veracity of the content. More broadly, expert opinion might be more effective at persuading in domains outside of policy advocacy, such as dispelling misinformation and promoting individual behavior change (Goldberg et al, 2020;Vraga & Bode, 2017, but also see Palm et al, 2020). Finally, the novelty and audiences' familiarity with issues is worth considering as persuasion and opinion change may be more likely on issues where individuals do not already have a firm opinion (McCroskey, 1969).…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do People Actually “Listen to the Experts”? A Cautionary Note on Assuming Expert Credibility and Persuasiveness on Public Health Policy Advocacy

Geiger

2020

Health Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present work empirically explores whether experts are trusted more or more persuasive than an "average Joe" when engaging in policy advocacy on public health topics. I conducted a 2 (topic: climate change vs. COVID-19) X 2 (source: expert vs. nonexpert) experimental study with an US adult sample (N = 486). Using Bayes factors to quantify evidence for null and alternative hypothesis, I find substantial evidence that at least under the conditions present in the study, experts are perceived to be higher in expertise, but equal in trustworthiness to the "average Joe". In turn, experts are equally persuasive to nonexperts on both topics. My work suggests that when engaging in policy advocacy on public health matters, the fact that an advocate is an expert on a topic can be acknowledged by audiences, but this may not necessarily help (nor necessarily harm) one's perceived trustworthiness or ability to persuade an audience. More research is needed to understand how experts can bolster their trustworthiness and persuasiveness when advocating for public health policies.

show abstract

“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”: Resistance to Climate Change Messages Suggesting Behavior Changes

Cited by 40 publications

References 62 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

Rhetoric and frame analysis of ExxonMobil's climate change communications

Do People Actually “Listen to the Experts”? A Cautionary Note on Assuming Expert Credibility and Persuasiveness on Public Health Policy Advocacy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About