Discussing Global Warming Leads to Greater Acceptance of Climate Science

Original article written by Matthew H. Goldberg, Sander van der Linden, Edward Maibach, and Anthony Leiserowitz and published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)

Abstract

Climate change is an urgent global issue, with demands for personal, collective, and governmental action. Although a large body of research has investigated the influence of communication on public engagement with climate change, few studies have investigated the role of interpersonal discussion. Here we use panel data with 2 time points to investigate the role of climate conversations in shaping beliefs and feelings about global warming. We find evidence of reciprocal causality. That is, discussing global warming with friends and family leads people to learn influential facts, such as the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is happening. In turn, stronger perceptions of scientific agreement increase beliefs that climate change is happening and human-caused, as well as worry about climate change. When assessing the reverse causal direction, we find that knowing the scientific consensus further leads to increases in global warming discussion. These findings suggest that climate conversations with friends and family enter people into a proclimate social feedback loop.

Climate change is a global issue, requiring personal, collective, and governmental action (1). Most prior research on how to motivate action has focused on understanding individual differences, for example, considering the role of education, religion, and ideology in driving climate change belief polarization (2⇓–4). Other research has focused on how top-down communications, for example, from scientists, influence public beliefs (5). Importantly, however, little research has focused on understanding how interpersonal conversations shape beliefs and worry about climate change. This is surprising, considering the importance of the messenger in communication (2, 3), and the fact that friends and family are one of the most trusted sources of climate change information (6). Although people seldom discuss climate change with friends and family (7), discussion with others in one’s close social network can be an important route by which people may learn key facts about an issue, such as the scientific consensus on climate change. As such, it is important to investigate the influence of people’s climate conversations with their own friends and family.

Moreover, while a rapidly growing body of research has examined the influence of messages on climate change public engagement, few studies have investigated the role of interpersonal discussion (but see ref. 8). In this study, we use nationally representative panel data to examine the influence of discussion about climate change on public climate change beliefs over time.

One fact that influences people’s climate beliefs is the degree to which people perceive a scientific consensus about human-caused climate change (9, 10). Do people learn about the scientific consensus on climate change through discussion with family and friends? If so, does this have downstream effects on beliefs and worry about climate change? Answers to these questions may suggest that encouraging people engaged with climate change to discuss it with their less-engaged friends and family members could be an effective strategy to increase public engagement through social network activation.

Next, we investigate the possibility of reciprocal causation. That is, are people who perceive higher scientific agreement more likely to discuss climate change with friends and family, which reinforces their own beliefs and worry about climate change?

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research article, “Discussing global warming leads to greater acceptance of climate science” in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. There is an urgent need to engage Americans in the issue of climate change. Social science research has focused on many of the factors that influence public engagement, but surprisingly little of this research has examined the role of one of the most trusted sources of information: friends and family. In our new article, we investigate the role of climate conversations with friends and family in changing people’s beliefs and concern about climate change. We surveyed a nationally-representative sample of American adults twice (N = 1,263), approximately seven months apart, and found that people learn important facts about climate change through discussion with friends and family. Specifically, discussing climate change with friends and family led to enhanced understanding of the extent of scientific agreement about human-caused climate change. In turn, better understanding of the scientific agreement led to increased belief that climate change is happening and is human-caused and to increased worry about it. Interestingly, we also found evidence that the link between discussion and climate beliefs can operate in the opposite direction. That is, increased perceptions of scientific agreement led to increases in discussions about climate change – suggesting that climate conversations can initiate a positively reinforcing cycle between learning, worry, and further conversation. These findings highlight the importance of climate conversations with friends and family, which can engage people more deeply in the issue of climate change. The open access article is available from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If you are not able to access the article, please send an email to climatechange@yale.edu, with the subject line: Request GW Discussion Paper. This project was supported by the 11th Hour Project, the Energy Foundation, the Grantham Foundation, and the V. K. Rasmussen Foundation. As always, thanks for your interest and support!