TY - JOUR
T1 - Public attention to science and political news and support for climate change mitigation
AU - Hart, P. Sol
AU - Nisbet, Erik C.
AU - Myers, Teresa A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant SES-0752876), the Ohio State University School of Communication Miller Research Award, and the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station federal formula funds, Project No. NYC-131405, received from Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, US Department of Agriculture.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
PY - 2015/6/26
Y1 - 2015/6/26
N2 - We examine how attention to science and political news may influence public knowledge, perceived harm, and support for climate mitigation policies. Previous research examining these relationships has not fully accounted for how political ideology shapes the mental processes through which the public interprets media discourses about climate change. We incorporate political ideology and the concept of motivated cognition into our analysis to compare and contrast two prominent models of opinion formation, the scientific literacy model, which posits that disseminating scientific information will move public opinion towards the scientific consensus, and the motivated reasoning model, which posits that individuals will interpret information in a biased manner. Our analysis finds support for both models of opinion formation with key differences across ideological groups. Attention to science news was associated with greater perceptions of harm and knowledge for conservatives, but only additional knowledge for liberals. Supporting the literacy model, greater knowledge was associated with more support for climate mitigation for liberals. In contrast, consistent with motivated reasoning, more knowledgeable conservatives were less supportive of mitigation policy. In addition, attention to political news had a negative association with perceived harm for conservatives but not for liberals.
AB - We examine how attention to science and political news may influence public knowledge, perceived harm, and support for climate mitigation policies. Previous research examining these relationships has not fully accounted for how political ideology shapes the mental processes through which the public interprets media discourses about climate change. We incorporate political ideology and the concept of motivated cognition into our analysis to compare and contrast two prominent models of opinion formation, the scientific literacy model, which posits that disseminating scientific information will move public opinion towards the scientific consensus, and the motivated reasoning model, which posits that individuals will interpret information in a biased manner. Our analysis finds support for both models of opinion formation with key differences across ideological groups. Attention to science news was associated with greater perceptions of harm and knowledge for conservatives, but only additional knowledge for liberals. Supporting the literacy model, greater knowledge was associated with more support for climate mitigation for liberals. In contrast, consistent with motivated reasoning, more knowledgeable conservatives were less supportive of mitigation policy. In addition, attention to political news had a negative association with perceived harm for conservatives but not for liberals.
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U2 - 10.1038/nclimate2577
DO - 10.1038/nclimate2577
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84929736090
SN - 1758-678X
VL - 5
SP - 541
EP - 545
JO - Nature Climate Change
JF - Nature Climate Change
IS - 6
ER -
