Social norms explain prioritization of climate policy

Abstract

Most people in the United States recognize the reality of climate change and are concerned about its consequences, yet climate change is a low priority relative to other policy issues. Recognizing that belief in climate change does not necessarily translate to prioritizing climate policy, we examine psychological factors that may boost or inhibit prioritization. We hypothesized that perceived social norms from people’s own political party influence their climate policy prioritization beyond their personal belief in climate change. In Study 1, a large, diverse sample of Democratic and Republican participants (N = 887) reported their prioritization of climate policy relative to other issues. Participants’ perceptions of their political ingroup’s social norms about climate policy prioritization were the strongest predictor of personal climate policy prioritization—stronger even than participants’ belief in climate change, political orientation, environmental identity, and environmental values. Perceptions of political outgroup norms did not predict prioritization. In Study 2 (N = 217), we experimentally manipulated Democratic and Republican descriptive norms of climate policy prioritization. Participants’ prioritization of climate policy was highest when both the political ingroup and the outgroup prioritized climate policy. Ingroup norms had a strong influence on personal policy prioritization whereas outgroup norms did not. These findings demonstrate that, beyond personal beliefs and other individual differences, ingroup social norms shape the public’s prioritization of climate change as a policy issue.

Frequent pro-climate messaging does not predict pro-climate voting by United States legislators

“…However, climate change communication delivered by conservative messengers (and using conservative frames) is more likely to resonate with conservative audiences (Bolsen et al 2019, Hurst and Stern 2020, Goldberg et al 2021 and scientific corrections delivered by Republican elites are more persuasive to Republicans (Benegal and Scruggs 2018). Republicans also prioritize climate policies more when they perceive fellow Republicans as prioritizing climate policy (Cole et al 2022). Taken together, this research demonstrates the value of tracking the current messaging strategies of Republican elites, including US Republican legislators.…”

Social Psychological Perspectives on Political Polarization: Insights and Implications for Climate Change

“…The correlation between political ideology and partisan identification in the United States has increased in recent decades such that Democrats have become more uniformly liberal and Republicans have become more uniformly conservative (Klein, 2020). Much recent work has reported strong correlations between political ideology and partisan identification, with exact correlations varying depending on how the constructs are measured, but one study found the correlation to be r = 0.57 (p < .001; Cole, Ehret et al, 2022).…”

“…Fielding et al (2020) discuss how climate policy support is higher when one's political ingroup supports the policy (Fielding et al, 2020). Cole, Ehret et al (2022) demonstrated that both Democrats and Republicans prioritize climate change as a policy issue more in comparison to other policy issues when others from their political parties prioritize it. Such social norms from one's political ingroup related to one's own prioritization of climate policy over and above individual difference characteristics such as ideology, identities, and values, and influenced personal prioritization more than did outgroup norms (Cole, Ehret et al, 2022).…”

“…Cole, Ehret et al (2022) demonstrated that both Democrats and Republicans prioritize climate change as a policy issue more in comparison to other policy issues when others from their political parties prioritize it. Such social norms from one's political ingroup related to one's own prioritization of climate policy over and above individual difference characteristics such as ideology, identities, and values, and influenced personal prioritization more than did outgroup norms (Cole, Ehret et al, 2022). Rinscheid et al (2020) showed that negative norms of environmental behavior (i.e., peers do not behave environmentally) had a stronger effect than positive norms (i.e., peers behave environmentally) on people's support for policies to phase out fossil fuel cars (Rinscheid et al, 2021).…”

“…Political ideology and partisan identification strongly influence climate change stances, especially in the United States (Egan & Mullin, 2017;Tesler, 2018), and predict climate change stances across the globe (Hornsey et al, 2016). While researchers and the general public alike have previously considered skepticism about the existence of climate change to be the primary barrier to effective climate action, at present most people across ideologies, political parties, and countries accept the threat of climate change (Cole, Ehret et al, 2022;Fagan & Huang, 2019;Van Boven et al, 2018). Thus, other psychological barriers are at play, including more peripheral factors than one's own environmental beliefs and attitudes (Allcott & Mullainathan, 2010).…”