Emotional signatures of climate policy support

The optimal emotional tone for climate communication has been debated by scholars and the press, but little is known about the effects of emotions on different types of policy support. In this paper we examine multiple discrete emotions people experience in reaction to climate change, and assess the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS climate 2024-03, Vol.3 (3), p.e0000381
Main Authors: Myers, Teresa A., Roser-Renouf, Connie, Leiserowitz, Anthony, Maibach, Edward
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anger
Climate change
Climate policy
Emotions
Energy efficiency
Environmental justice
Fear
Obama, Barack
Policies
Regulation
Restitution
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Summary:The optimal emotional tone for climate communication has been debated by scholars and the press, but little is known about the effects of emotions on different types of policy support. In this paper we examine multiple discrete emotions people experience in reaction to climate change, and assess the strength of these emotions as predictors of support for different types of mitigation and adaptation policies. Using multi-wave, cross-sectional, nationally representative samples of American adults, we test whether guilt, anger, hope, fear, and sadness are uniquely associated with support for different types of climate policies. Guilt is most strongly related to support for personally costly policies, hope to support for proactive policies, and fear to support for regulatory policies. This research suggests that communicators should consider how their climate campaign’s emotional tone aligns with their policy goals.
ISSN:2767-3200
2767-3200
DOI:10.1371/journal.pclm.0000381