The Psychological Distance of Climate Change
The Psychological Distance of Climate Change
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01695.x
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发表时间：
2012-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Pidgeon, Nick
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Spence, Alexa;Poortinga, Wouter;Pidgeon, Nick
避免危险的气候变化是我们今天面临的最紧迫的社会风险问题之一，了解相关的公众看法对于让公众参与应对气候变化所需的重大社会变革至关重要。对公众看法的分析表明，气候变化在若干不同方面被认为是遥远的。然而，迄今为止，还没有对气候变化的心理距离进行深入探讨。本研究使用了一个具有全国代表性的英国样本，以系统地探索和表征心理距离的四个理论维度：时间、社会和地理距离，以及与气候变化相关的不确定性。我们研究这些不同方面的心理距离是如何相互关联的，以及对气候变化和可持续行为意图的关注。结果表明，气候变化在心理上既遥远，又与不同层面有关。较低的心理距离通常与较高的关注程度相关，尽管作为社会距离的一个指标，对发展中国家的影响感知也与对气候变化采取行动的准备程度有着重要关系。我们的研究结果清楚地指出了旨在减少心理距离的风险沟通技术的实用性。然而，强调气候变化的潜在的非常严重的遥远影响也可能有助于促进可持续的行为，即使是在那些已经关注的人中。
Avoiding dangerous climate change is one of the most urgent social risk issues we face today and understanding related public perceptions is critical to engaging the public with the major societal transformations required to combat climate change. Analyses of public perceptions have indicated that climate change is perceived as distant on a number of different dimensions. However, to date there has been no in-depth exploration of the psychological distance of climate change. This study uses a nationally representative British sample in order to systematically explore and characterize each of the four theorized dimensions of psychological distancetemporal, social, and geographical distance, and uncertaintyin relation to climate change. We examine how each of these different aspects of psychological distance relate to each other as well as to concerns about climate change and sustainable behavior intentions. Results indicate that climate change is both psychologically distant and proximal in relation to different dimensions. Lower psychological distance was generally associated with higher levels of concern, although perceived impacts on developing countries, as an indicator of social distance, was also significantly related to preparedness to act on climate change. Our findings clearly point to the utility of risk communication techniques designed to reduce psychological distance. However, highlighting the potentially very serious distant impacts of climate change may also be useful in promoting sustainable behavior, even among those already concerned.