The effect of power on environmnetal risk attitudes: the role of identity and self-efficacy

了解环境态度并理清其前因后果可以为有效的公共政策提供信息，以应对环境风险。核能和气候变化是两个关键的环境问题。许多人认为，在未来一段时间内，核能仍将是整体能源结构的重要组成部分。先前对公众环境态度的研究表明，对许多人来说，核能引发了高度负面的反应。然而，在比较核专家和外行人如何评估核能风险的研究中，通常发现专家认为放射性废物的处置、放射性物质的滥用和核试验等问题的风险低于外行人。另一方面，在气候变化的环境态度方面，一个由750名专家组成的小组将气候变化列为2016年对世界经济的最大潜在威胁；他们对改善气候变化影响的政策持积极态度，而公众舆论仍然模棱两可。只有42%的人知道大多数科学家同意这一点，近75%的人对气候问题的参与程度较低。本项目将探讨这些环境风险态度的差异及其潜在机制。研究的问题是：权力如何与风险态度相关联，身份和自我效能感的作用是什么，社会特征在权力中的作用是什么？高权力持有者和低权力持有者在身份和自我效能上是否有显著差异？认同是否在权力和自我效能之间起到中介作用？自我效能感是否介导核能与气候变化的认同与风险态度之间的关系？识别和自我效能是否介导和/或调节权力和风险态度之间的关系？关键人口统计是否缓和了RQs 1-5所示的任何影响？

Understanding environmental attitudes and disentangling their antecedents can inform effective public policy coping with environmental risks. Two key environmental issues are nuclear energy and climate change. Many people believe that nuclear energy will remain an important component of the overall energy mix for some time to come. Prior research on public environmental attitudes show that nuclear power invokes highly negative responses for many people. However, it is commonly found in studies that compared how nuclear experts and laypeople assess nuclear energy risks, that the experts rate issues such as the disposal of radioactive waste, the misuse of radioactive materials and nuclear testing as less risky than laypeople. On the other hand, work on environmental attitudes of climate change, a group of 750 experts chose climate change as the biggest potential threat to the world economy in 2016; they hold positive attitudes towards policy to ameliorate the effects of climate change, while public opinion is still equivocal. Only 42% of them know that most scientists agree, and nearly 75% engage with climate issues on a low level. This project will explore these differences in environmental risk attitudes, as well as its underlying mechanism. The research questions are: How is power associated with risk attitudes, what is the role of identity and self-efficacy, and what is the role of social characteristics are associated with power? Is there a significant difference in identity and self-efficacy between high power holders and low power holders? Does identity mediate the relationship between power and self-efficacy? Does self-efficacy mediate the relationship between identity and risk attitudes toward nuclear energy and climate change? Do identify and self-efficacy mediate and/or moderate the relationship between power and risk attitudes? Do key demographics moderate any of the effects indicated in RQs 1-5?