Political value-congruent climate change communication: An efficacy study from Germany and Austria

Description

To successfully battle climate change, it is crucial to reach people across political camps and national borders. Research from English-speaking countries indicates that climate change communication is most effective when it addresses how climate action promotes recipients’ political values. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no such evidence from German-speaking nations. To fill this gap, we conducted two studies. In Study 1, we framed the conservative and liberal climate protection messages based on values from Schwartz's theory of basic human values. Participants with liberal political attitudes agreed more with the liberally framed than with the conservatively framed climate protection message. In Study 2, we framed the climate protection message based on moral foundations. Conservative participants agreed more with the conservatively framed climate protection message than with the liberally framed one. Thus, empirical findings from English-speaking countries at least partly hold true for German-speaking audiences. Further research is needed to clarify how to achieve environmentally friendly behavior beyond the mere agreement to climate protection messages.

Period	7 Sept 2022
Event title	14. Tagung der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Psychologie (ÖGP)
Event type	Conference
Location	Klagenfurt, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International