Collaborative Research: Building a Framework for the Causes of and Solutions to the Pluralistic Ignorance Gap on Climate Change

合作研究：建立气候变化多元无知差距的成因和解决方案框架

• 批准号: 2149158
• 负责人: Sara Constantino
• 金额: $ 21.93万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-07-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149158&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Building; Framework; Causes

When faced with large, complex societal problems, people rely on information about others’ beliefs and behaviors to decide whether and how to act. Adaptive social learning, however, only works when people accurately sense others’ thoughts and actions. Unfortunately, mounting evidence shows large, systematic and persistent errors in perceptions about the beliefs and actions of others. In particular, people most dramatically underestimate others’ climate concerns and willingness to act. These underestimates can stifle civic engagement, productive dialogue, policy support, and collective action by the general public, and discourage responses from elected officials, who respond to what they see as their constituents’ priorities. This research develops a framework to better understand why people have mispreceptions and what methods can improve the accuracy of perceptions. Closing this gap can encourage public and private actors to take steps towards addressing climate change. Furthermore, understanding the causes of persistent social misperceptions is relevant for a broad range of problems. By studying a fundamental cognitive challenge for collective action, this research contributes to scholarship on opinion formation and supports the development of communication strategies that take into account humankind’s social nature to more effectively mobilize climate action. Addressing collective action problems such as climate change requires individuals to engage in a host of coordinated behaviors to effect widespread systemic changes. Recent work suggests that individuals are more likely to take action when they believe that others share their concerns and desire for action. Yet, while most people are concerned about climate change, they systematically underestimate others’ concern, which can inhibit action toward addressing collective challenges. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this project uses cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental designs across multiple samples to develop and test an integrative framework illuminating drivers of pervasive social misperceptions and pathways for correcting these biases. The proposed studies progress in three phases: 1) identifying and testing plausible explanations for social misperceptions; 2) developing and comparing methods for correcting misperceptions; and 3) testing interventions in high-impact and ecologically valid contexts, including with a sample of decision makers. The proposed research will advance the literatures in cognitive science, judgment and decision making, social psychology, and communications related to persistent and systematic misperceptions about collective norms. The research extends previous work by identifying and testing mechanisms by which misperceptions develop and persist and how they can be ameliorated, helping policymakers and educators tailor messages accordingly.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

当面对巨大而复杂的社会问题时，人们依靠关于他人信仰和行为的信息来决定是否采取行动以及如何采取行动。然而，只有当人们准确地感知他人的想法和行动时，适应性社交学习才能奏效。不幸的是，越来越多的证据表明，人们对他人的信仰和行动的看法存在巨大的、系统性的、持久的错误。特别是，人们最严重地低估了其他人对气候问题的担忧和采取行动的意愿。这些低估可能会扼杀公民参与、富有成效的对话、政策支持和公众的集体行动，并阻碍民选官员的反应，他们对他们认为自己选民的优先事项做出反应。这项研究开发了一个框架，以更好地理解人们为什么会有错误的看法，以及什么方法可以提高感知的准确性。缩小这一差距可以鼓励公共和私营部门采取措施应对气候变化。此外，理解持续存在的社会误解的原因与一系列广泛的问题有关。通过研究集体行动的基本认知挑战，这项研究有助于形成意见的学术研究，并支持制定考虑到人类社会性质的传播战略，以更有效地动员气候行动。解决气候变化等集体行动问题需要个人采取一系列协调一致的行为，以实现广泛的系统性变化。最近的研究表明，当个人相信其他人与他们有同样的担忧和行动愿望时，他们更有可能采取行动。然而，尽管大多数人担心气候变化，但他们系统性地低估了其他人的担忧，这可能会阻碍应对集体挑战的行动。利用跨学科研究，该项目使用横截面、纵向和多个样本的实验设计来开发和测试一个综合框架，阐明普遍存在的社会误解的驱动因素和纠正这些偏见的途径。拟议的研究进展分为三个阶段：1)确定和测试对社会误解的合理解释；2)开发和比较纠正误解的方法；3)在高影响和生态有效的背景下测试干预措施，包括与决策者的样本。本研究将推进认知科学、判断与决策、社会心理学、传播学等领域关于集体规范的持续性和系统性误解的文献研究。这项研究通过识别和测试误解形成和持续存在的机制以及如何改进误解来扩展先前的工作，帮助政策制定者和教育工作者相应地定制信息。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。