Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems
This paper reports on two studies that examine correlates of attitudes to climate change (ACC). In the first study, five hundred participants completed five questionnaires and an intelligence test as well as two related measures of ACC. Using correlations and regressions we examined the relationship...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691822002906 |
| _version_ | 1828158006300246016 |
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| author | Adrian Furnham Charlotte Robinson |
| author_facet | Adrian Furnham Charlotte Robinson |
| author_sort | Adrian Furnham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper reports on two studies that examine correlates of attitudes to climate change (ACC). In the first study, five hundred participants completed five questionnaires and an intelligence test as well as two related measures of ACC. Using correlations and regressions we examined the relationship between ACC and demography (gender, age, education), ideology (political and religious beliefs), intelligence, self-beliefs, Belief in a Just World and the endorsement of Conspiracy Theories. One climate change questionnaire factored into three factors labelled Impact, Fatalism, and Personal action. The most consistent finding was that political opinions were most strongly related to climate change beliefs: more conservative thinkers denied that individuals could do anything. In the second study, also with 500 participants, we asked one question concerning how seriously they took the issue of global warming. Again, we examined the relationship with this response and the participants' demography, ideology and self-ratings. Political beliefs primarily were related to global warming concerns, as in the first study. Results are discussed in terms of climate change as an ideology and the possible changing of these beliefs. Limitations, like the representativeness of the sample and the single-item measure in the second study are acknowledged. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:38:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b7212b81dc6f440e9016f4dd5cc7de84 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T23:38:22Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-b7212b81dc6f440e9016f4dd5cc7de842022-12-22T03:56:53ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182022-10-01230103775Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systemsAdrian Furnham0Charlotte Robinson1Department of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour, Norwegian Business School (BI), Nydalveien, Oslo, Norway; Corresponding author.Department of Psychology, University of Bath, United KingdomThis paper reports on two studies that examine correlates of attitudes to climate change (ACC). In the first study, five hundred participants completed five questionnaires and an intelligence test as well as two related measures of ACC. Using correlations and regressions we examined the relationship between ACC and demography (gender, age, education), ideology (political and religious beliefs), intelligence, self-beliefs, Belief in a Just World and the endorsement of Conspiracy Theories. One climate change questionnaire factored into three factors labelled Impact, Fatalism, and Personal action. The most consistent finding was that political opinions were most strongly related to climate change beliefs: more conservative thinkers denied that individuals could do anything. In the second study, also with 500 participants, we asked one question concerning how seriously they took the issue of global warming. Again, we examined the relationship with this response and the participants' demography, ideology and self-ratings. Political beliefs primarily were related to global warming concerns, as in the first study. Results are discussed in terms of climate change as an ideology and the possible changing of these beliefs. Limitations, like the representativeness of the sample and the single-item measure in the second study are acknowledged.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691822002906Climate changeIdeologyBeliefsConspiracy theories |
| spellingShingle | Adrian Furnham Charlotte Robinson Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems Acta Psychologica Climate change Ideology Beliefs Conspiracy theories |
| title | Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems |
| title_full | Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems |
| title_fullStr | Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems |
| title_short | Correlates of belief in climate change: Demographics, ideology and belief systems |
| title_sort | correlates of belief in climate change demographics ideology and belief systems |
| topic | Climate change Ideology Beliefs Conspiracy theories |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691822002906 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT adrianfurnham correlatesofbeliefinclimatechangedemographicsideologyandbeliefsystems AT charlotterobinson correlatesofbeliefinclimatechangedemographicsideologyandbeliefsystems |