气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Emotional foundations of the public climate change divide

CCPortal

DOI	10.1007/s10584-019-02552-0
	Emotional foundations of the public climate change divide
	Hahnel U.J.J.; Mumenthaler C.; Brosch T.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	0165-0009
起始页码	9
结束页码	19
卷号	161 期号:1
英文摘要	The worldwide rise of climate skeptical political leaders endangers sorely needed political efforts to mitigate climate change. In addition, climate skepticism expressed by the political elites may spread to the electorate, thus ultimately affecting mitigation actions at the population level. It is crucial to better understand the psychological mechanisms underlying elite influences on public opinion formation and polarization. Here we show how affective processes contribute to these top-down influences using longitudinal data in the context of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Findings revealed a general decrease in climate change beliefs immediately after the presidential election (November 2016). We moreover found an increase in positive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions toward the Republican Party after the election of President Trump. Most importantly, the positive emotional shift towards the Republican Party mediated the decrease in climate change beliefs: Individuals with pronounced increases in positive emotions toward the Republican Party most strongly reduced their belief in climate change after the presidential election. The effect was intensified among Republican partisans, pointing towards a mechanism underlying political polarization. Using data based on a major real-world political event, our findings illustrate how partisans update their beliefs by referring to the positions of relevant political authorities. We moreover demonstrate how emotions drive top-down influences of political leaders on partisans’ opinions and beliefs. Finally, our findings reveal how intensified emotions can contribute to the aggravation of the public climate change divide. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Digital storage; Polarization; Social aspects; Affective process; Longitudinal data; Political efforts; Political events; Population levels; Positive emotions; Presidential election; Public opinions; Climate change; climate change; election; electoral system; perception; polarization; political discourse; psychology; United States
来源期刊	Climatic Change
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/147156
作者单位	Department of Psychology and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Hahnel U.J.J.,Mumenthaler C.,Brosch T.. Emotional foundations of the public climate change divide[J],2020,161(1).
APA	Hahnel U.J.J.,Mumenthaler C.,&Brosch T..(2020).Emotional foundations of the public climate change divide.Climatic Change,161(1).
MLA	Hahnel U.J.J.,et al."Emotional foundations of the public climate change divide".Climatic Change 161.1(2020).