Risk Communication
Your audience and why that matters:
Reactions to information about resilience and climate change are highly personal. This makes communicating to a broad audience about these issues difficult because not everyone will respond to the information in the same way. Researchers have figured out how to categorize American adults in how they perceive climate change.[1] People within each category are likely to react or behave in certain ways, ranging from extremely alarmed about climate change and its impacts, to dismissive that climate change and the need for resilience measures even exist.[2]
People also have the tendency to psychologically distance themselves from risks and other threats, including climate change. Below are five common ways most people, regardless of their political beliefs or other personal values, distance themselves from resilience and climate change issues:[3]
- Confirmation Bias: People often look for evidence that confirms what they already belief and reject all other information that does not confirm their beliefs. For example, someone who may not believe climate change is occurring may interpret a colder than normal winter season as a reason climate change is not happening. Conversely, someone who is very worried about climate impacts may view a normal heat wave as an impact of climate change.
- Misplaced confidence: People often assume that because something has not happened before, it can’t happen in the future. At the same time, people also will assume that because something has happened (such as a major flood) it won’t happen again in their lifetime. For example, someone whose house has not suffered flood damage in the time they have lived there may think they are not at risk of flood damage, despite living in a coastal flood zone. Someone else whose house was damaged during Hurricane Sandy may think their house won’t be flooded again while they still are the owner.
- Wishful thinking: People tend to be unrealistically optimistic about bad events. In other words, people think bad things happen, but not to them.
- Belief Polarization: People often associate only with others who share their views, thus reinforcing their beliefs and shutting out new information or ideas.
- Discounting the future: People tend to discount, or place a lower value on, future events. They often do not realize they are doing this.
[1] Leiserowitz, A. A., Maibach, E. W., Roser-Renouf, C., et al. (2012), Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans’ Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in March 2012, New Haven, CT: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Climate-Beliefs-March-2012.pdf
[2] Leiserowitz, et al, 2012
[3] Pike, C., Doppelt, B., and Herr, M. 2010. Climate Communication and Behavior Change: A Guide for Practitioners. The Climate Leadership Initiative. Center for Research on Environmental Decisions. (2009). The Psychology of Climate Change Communication: A Guide for Scientists, Journalists, Educators, Political Aides, and the Interested Public. New York.