Perception, understanding, and action: attitudes of climate change in the Hungarian population

Abstract

This study is based on a non-representative, national level survey sample whose main purpose is to interpret the general population's understanding of climate change. The study also provides an examination of correlations between climate change concerns and the taking of individual action as well as the relationship between pro-environmental thinking and climate change scepticism. Our results show a moderate correlation between the general population's concerns and the professional views on the subject, known in the literature as the New Environmental Paradigm scale and Scepticism scale, but a significantly weaker correlation when it comes to taking action against climate change. Factors relating to the respondents, such as residence settlement type, education level, gender, age, personal and social values, or casual attributions in relation to climate change heavily influence this weaker correlation. Most respondents assessed climate change as a current (urgent), but geographically remote phenomenon. This is a clear indication of problems associated with cognitive conceptualization and the localization of climate change in communication. The target audience must be taken into account when designing climate change communications because interpretations of climate change can vary widely and cover a broad range attitudes ranging from concern about to issue all the way to climate change scepticism. This also applies to views concerning responsibility for climate change with some believing it is a political responsibility and others believing it is a scientific responsibility.

Climate change perception in Romania

“…Urban residents associate rainfall events with CC three times rarer than the rural population. Still, heatwaves are indicated 30% more often, in close relation to the events impacting the most both urban and rural population (Herbel et al 2018 ; Ichim and Sfîcă 2020 ).…”

Analyzing the Determinants of Individual Action on Climate Change by Specifying the Roles of Six Values in South Korea

“…In the seminal research of Fischhoff et al [42], the degree of risk was identified as a subjective rather than an objective construct. According to Jankó et al [43], perception is related to attitudes, decision-making, and communication and, thus, affects both formal and informal behavior. Perception research has identified differences in cognition mechanisms between groups.…”

Infotainment May Increase Engagement with Science but It Can Decrease Perceptions of Seriousness

“…Exposure to infotainment in science documentaries has been shown to reduce levels of climate change knowledge in audiences with low scientific literacy but not those with high scientific literacy [82]. Additionally, older people can be more skeptical when it comes to climate change [83]. Given that all members of Cluster 1 had university degrees and were over 30, it is perhaps not surprising that people with a higher level of education and life experiences should be less affected by the style of the video as they are likely to have a stronger basis and predilection to critique scientific issues no matter how they are framed.…”