Behavioral interventions motivate action to address climate change

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sinclair, Alyssa H.; Cosme, Danielle; Lydic, Kirsten; Reinero, Diego A.; Carreras-Tartak, Jose; Mann, Michael E.; Falk, Emily B.
• 署名单位: University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9435
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2426768122
• 发表日期: 2025-05-13
• 关键词: social norms; psychological distance; public engagement; efficacy beliefs; field experiment; perceptions; COMMUNICATION; intentions; outcomes; rewards

摘要

Mitigating climate change requires urgent action at individual, collective, and institutional levels. However, individuals may fail to act because they perceive climate change as a threat that is distant or not personally relevant, or believe their actions are not impactful. To address these psychological barriers, we conducted a large- scale intervention tournament. In a sample of 7,624 participants, we systematically tested 17 interventions that targeted psychological mechanisms described by three key themes: social relevance were the most effective for motivating people to share news articles and petitions about climate change. Interventions that targeted future thinking were the most effective for broadly motivating individual actions (e.g., driving less, eating vegetarian meals) and collective actions (e.g., donating, volunteering) to address climate change. Interventions that emphasized the environmental impact of these actions reliably increased the perceived impact of pro- environmental actions, but did not consistently motivate action. Notably, interventions that targeted two or more mechanisms-such as imagining a future scenario that involved oneself or close others-were most effective. Importantly, our leading interventions were substantially more effective than prevalent theories of behavior change, motivation, and information sharing, with potential applicaonline interventions and mass communication campaigns to address climate change.