| Title: |
What We Think Others Think and Do About Climate Change: A Multicountry Test of Pluralistic Ignorance and Public-Consensus Messaging |
| Authors: |
Sandra J. Geiger (Environmental Psychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria); Karla A. Garduño-Realivazquez (Department of Accounting, University of Sonora, Mexico); Christian A. P. Haugestad (Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway); Hirotaka Imada (Research Institute for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology, Japan); Aishwarya Iyer (Department of Psychology, Christ University, India); Carya Maharja (Yayasan Puspa Hanuman Indonesia, Indonesia); Daniel C. Mann (Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Austria); Michalina Marczak (School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland); Olivia Melville (Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Canada); Sari R. R. Nijssen (Environmental Psychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria); Nattavudh Powdthavee (Department of Economics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore); Radisti A. Praptiwi (Research Center for Ecology and Ethnobiology, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia); Gargi Ranade (The Shallow End Collective, Bangalore, India); Claudio D. Rosa (Development and Environment, State University of Santa Cruz, Brazil); Valeria Vitale (Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy); Małgorzata Winkowska (Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden); Lei Zhang (Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom); Mathew P. White (Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Austria); Jana K. Köhler (Environmental Psychology Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria); Zenith N. C. Delabrida (Department of Psychology, Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil) |
| Source: |
issn:0956-7976 ; Psychological Science. |
| Publisher Information: |
SAGE |
| Publication Year: |
2025 |
| Subject Terms: |
Climate Change; Pluralistic Ignorance; Social Norm; Cultural Tightness-looseness; Cross-country Generalizability |
| Description: |
Most people believe in human-caused climate change, yet this public consensus can be collectively underestimated (pluralistic ignorance). Across two studies using primary data (n = 3,653 adult participants; 11 countries) and secondary data (ns = 60,230 and 22,496 adult participants; 55 countries), we tested (a) the generalizability of pluralistic ignorance about climate-change beliefs, (b) the effects of a public-consensus intervention on climate action, and (c) the possibility that cultural tightness-looseness might serve as a country-level predictor of pluralistic ignorance. In Study 1, people across 11 countries underestimated the prevalence of proclimate views by at least 7.5% in Indonesia (90% credible interval, or CrI = [5.0, 10.1]), and up to 20.8% in Brazil (90% CrI = [18.2, 23.4]. Providing information about the actual public consensus on climate change was largely ineffective, except for a slight increase in willingness to express one’s proclimate opinion, δ = 0.05 (90% CrI = [−0.02, 0.11]). In Study 2, pluralistic ignorance about willingness to contribute financially to fight climate change was slightly more pronounced in looser than tighter cultures, highlighting the particular need for pluralistic-ignorance research in these countries. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| File Description: |
application/pdf |
| Language: |
German |
| Relation: |
isPartOf:https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:605[Open Access Publikationen]; https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:4870 |
| DOI: |
10.1177/09567976251335585 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976251335585; https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:4870 |
| Rights: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ; © The Author(s) 2025. ; open access |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.63ED98C7 |
| Database: |
BASE |