5 - (SYM 97) Stages of Change and Climate Change Attitudes

Three studies examine climate change attitudes using the stages of change framework. In Study 1, undergraduate students (N = 72) watched a 4-minute video about climate change and then responded to five open-ended questions. A stages of change model of climate change attitudes (Simpkins, 2015) guided development of a system for coding those responses. The resulting Climate Action Readiness Index (CARI) showed adequate reliability (i.e., absolute agreement, three-rater ICC = .92), strong convergence with Climate Change Acceptance and Denial scales (R’s = .548 & -.532, ps < .01). CARI, Acceptance, and Denial showed significant correlations with Climate Change Anxiety (R’s = .274, .375, & -.282, respectively, all p’s < .05).

Study 2 recruited a representative US sample (N = 300) through PROLIFIC. CARI scores were reliable (absolute agreement, three-rater ICC = 0.90) and were not distributed normally (Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic = 0.101, df = 297, p < .001). The distribution appeared bimodal, with a separate distribution that consisted of participants with CARI scores in the pre-contemplation stage (10.1%) and a few participants in the early contemplation stage (2.7%). These participants were designated as deniers. The remainder of the sample (designated as non-deniers) consisted of 34.3% of the sample with scores in the later contemplation, 51.5% in the preparation, and 1.3% in the action stage. Deniers (compared to non-deniers) tended to be white, male, republican, conservative, and had lower scores on measures of climate change acceptance and higher scores on measures of climate change denial, social dominance orientation, and collective narcissism. Deniers also had lower levels of both self-esteem and climate change anxiety. The correlation between climate change anxiety and self-esteem was significant and positive among deniers (R = .444, p < .01), consistent with the view that climate change denial is motivated by a perception that climate change information is threatening. In contrast, the correlation between climate change anxiety and self-esteem was significantly smaller among non-deniers (R = .059, ns; z = 2.32, p < .05).

Study 3 examined the efficacy of a self-affirmation intervention (Seidman, 2020) to reduce climate change denial. Undergraduate students with high levels of climate change denial were randomly assigned to a self-affirmation or a control condition. The effects of the intervention are discussed in the context of the stages of change model and the anxiety reduction function of climate change denial.