Horizon Digital Economy Research/School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Risk Anal. 2012 Jun;32(6):957-72. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01695.x. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Avoiding dangerous climate change is one of the most urgent social risk issues we face today and understanding related public perceptions is critical to engaging the public with the major societal transformations required to combat climate change. Analyses of public perceptions have indicated that climate change is perceived as distant on a number of different dimensions. However, to date there has been no in-depth exploration of the psychological distance of climate change. This study uses a nationally representative British sample in order to systematically explore and characterize each of the four theorized dimensions of psychological distance--temporal, social, and geographical distance, and uncertainty--in relation to climate change. We examine how each of these different aspects of psychological distance relate to each other as well as to concerns about climate change and sustainable behavior intentions. Results indicate that climate change is both psychologically distant and proximal in relation to different dimensions. Lower psychological distance was generally associated with higher levels of concern, although perceived impacts on developing countries, as an indicator of social distance, was also significantly related to preparedness to act on climate change. Our findings clearly point to the utility of risk communication techniques designed to reduce psychological distance. However, highlighting the potentially very serious distant impacts of climate change may also be useful in promoting sustainable behavior, even among those already concerned.
避免危险的气候变化是我们当今面临的最紧迫的社会风险问题之一，了解相关的公众看法对于让公众参与应对气候变化所需的重大社会变革至关重要。对公众看法的分析表明，气候变化在许多不同方面被认为是遥远的。然而，迄今为止，还没有对气候变化的心理距离进行深入的探索。本研究使用具有全国代表性的英国样本，系统地探索和描述与气候变化有关的心理距离的四个理论维度——时间、社会和地理距离以及不确定性——的每一个维度。我们研究了这些不同心理距离方面中的每一个方面如何相互关联，以及与对气候变化的关注和可持续行为意图的关联。研究结果表明，气候变化在不同维度上既具有心理上的距离感，也具有接近感。较低的心理距离通常与更高的关注水平相关，尽管发展中国家的感知影响，作为社会距离的一个指标，也与应对气候变化的准备程度显著相关。我们的研究结果清楚地表明，旨在降低心理距离的风险沟通技术具有实用性。然而，强调气候变化潜在的非常严重的遥远影响，即使是对那些已经关注的人，也可能有助于促进可持续行为。
