Identifying climate change interpretive communities in a large Australian sample

Hine, Donald W.; Reser, Joseph P.; Phillips, Wendy J.; Cooksey, Ray; Marks, Anthony D. G.; Nunn, Patrick D.; Watt, Susan E.; Bradley, Graham Leslie; Glendon, A. Ian

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.08.006

Cited by 60 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Some readers might easily get the impression from reading the Six Americas reports that the proportion of genuine climate change skeptics is appreciably higher than individual survey item responses would suggest. Similar discrepancies can be found between Hine et al's Australian segmentation solution and responses from the same sample to single‐climate‐change belief items reported by Reser et al…”

Section: Methodological Issuessupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Several studies have employed a more inclusive approach, incorporating a wider range of psychological variables, some of which are not explicitly related to climate change. For example, in a large Australian study, Hine et al identified five segments ( Dismissive , Doubtful , Uncertain , Concerned , and Alarmed ) using a broad set of profiling variables including environmental values, trust, emotional responses, and spatial and temporal discounting, in addition to the more standard climate change belief variables used in other studies. They found significant differences across segments on a range of validation dimensions, including climate change mitigation behaviors and energy policy preferences.…”

Section: A Brief History Of Audience Segmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Audience segmentation and climate change communication: conceptual and methodological considerations

Hine

Reser

Morrison

et al. 2014

WIREs Climate Change

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137

106

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Engaging the public about mitigating or adapting to climate change threats poses significant challenges for scientists, policy makers, and others responsible for developing communication strategies. In response to these challenges, interest is growing in audience segmentation as a possible strategy to develop more effective communications that are tailored and targeted to subgroups of the public who share similar values, beliefs, behaviors, and/or policy preferences about climate change. In this article, we provide a brief historical overview of audience segmentation and its applications to marketing, health, politics, and most recently climate change. We then critically evaluate several conceptual arguments about whether segmentation is an appropriate strategy for climate change communications, review key methodological considerations associated with conducting segmentation analyses, and make several recommendations about best practice. We conclude that, in principle, audience segmentation and targeted messaging are potentially valuable tools for enhancing climate change communication. But, in practice, there are conceptual and methodological complexities of which practitioners and consumers should be aware when conducting and interpreting the results of segmentation studies. In addition, more research is required, particularly related to tailoring and targeting messages to identified segments, before these strategies can be considered to have a sufficient evidence base to warrant widespread adoption. This article is categorized under: Perceptions, Behavior, and Communication of Climate Change > Perceptions of Climate Change

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Section: Methodological Issuessupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: A Brief History Of Audience Segmentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Audience segmentation and climate change communication: conceptual and methodological considerations

Hine

Reser

Morrison

et al. 2014

WIREs Climate Change

Self Cite

137

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A breakdown of means for all outcome variables for the two treatment conditions is presented in Table III. 2 As expected, participants in the proximal frame condition, relative to those in the distal frame condition, scored lower on the four psychological distance dimensions, expressed higher levels of climate change concern, and also had stronger intentions to engage in actions to mitigate climate change. All of these effects were statistically significant except for the treatment effect on temporal psychological distance, which approached significance (p = 0.08).…”

Section: Descriptive Statistics and Preliminary Correlational Analysessupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Although the vast majority of climate scientists believe that human-induced climate change is occurring, (1) responses from the general public have been ambivalent and inconsistent. (2)(3)(4) Public engagement with the issue of climate change is low (5)(6)(7) and too few people are adopting mitigating actions. (8) Immediate corrective action is required to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Future is Now: Reducing Psychological Distance to Increase Public Engagement with Climate Change

2016

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Many people perceive climate change as psychologically distant-a set of uncertain events that might occur far in the future, impacting distant places and affecting people dissimilar to themselves. In this study, we employed construal level theory to investigate whether a climate change communication intervention could increase public engagement by reducing the psychological distance of climate change. Australian residents (N = 333) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: one framed to increase psychological distance to climate change (distal frame), and the other framed to reduce psychological distance (proximal frame). Participants then completed measures of psychological distance of climate change impacts, climate change concern, and intentions to engage in mitigation behavior. Principal components analysis indicated that psychological distance to climate change was best conceptualized as a multidimensional construct consisting of four components: geographic, temporal, social, and uncertainty. Path analysis revealed the effect of the treatment frame on climate change concern and intentions was fully mediated by psychological distance dimensions related to uncertainty and social distance. Our results suggest that climate communications framed to reduce psychological distance represent a promising strategy for increasing public engagement with climate change.

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“…We need to move beyond broad, population-based approaches, given the nuances that can be detected through careful psychographic segmentation of the public. While this approach has been increasingly used for climate change mitigation (Hine et al, 2013), it is still underutilized in conservation and biodiversity activities. Developing campaigns that integrate cobenefits such as beautification of their neighborhood (well informed), enhancing recreations sites (active outdoors), or spending time with family or friends (socially motivated) may be more effective.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Segmenting urban populations for greater conservation gains: A new approach targeting cobenefits is required

MacDonald

Harbrow

Jack

et al. 2019

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Engaging urban residents in greater proconservation behaviors is essential to mitigate the biodiversity crisis. To date, most behavior-change campaigns have been based on a one-size-fits-all "think-care-act" approach resulting in insufficient, sometimes counterproductive, conservation gains. In our study, we assess the "think-care-act" paradigm and also consider a range of cobenefits that may motivate different segments of urban populations to take greater conservation action for reasons other than biodiversity gains. We surveyed a representative sample of Auckland, New Zealand (n = 2,124) and four clusters emerged through clustering analysis. The first segment (Environmentally Active; 32%), exhibited the "thinkcare-act" paradigm. The second segment (Well Informed; 28%), was highly knowledgeable and concerned about conservation problems but exhibited lower conservation behaviors. The third segment (Active Outdoors; 19%) was actively engaged in outdoor activities, but exhibited low conservation knowledge, concern, and behaviors. The fourth segment (Socially Motivated; 21%), demonstrated high levels of conservation behaviors but lower knowledge and concern about conservation issues. We discuss potential ways to engage with each segment based on cobenefits and the need to move away from the traditional "think-care-act" paradigm and instead work with existing values systems and foster greater conservation behavior based on existing cobenefits.

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Identifying climate change interpretive communities in a large Australian sample

Cited by 60 publications

References 31 publications

Audience segmentation and climate change communication: conceptual and methodological considerations

Audience segmentation and climate change communication: conceptual and methodological considerations

The Future is Now: Reducing Psychological Distance to Increase Public Engagement with Climate Change

Segmenting urban populations for greater conservation gains: A new approach targeting cobenefits is required

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