School of Media and Communication, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
Department of Communication, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 329 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr 25;19(9):5210. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095210.
Climate change has been increasingly discussed in moral terms in public discourse. Despite the growing body of research on the effectiveness of moral frames in bridging the ideological divide, few studies have examined the role that perceived credibility, an important element of any persuasive appeal, plays in facilitating the framing effect. With the objective of further understanding how moral frames may engage individuals with different ideologies in climate change and refining climate change messaging strategies, two experimental surveys were conducted to examine the effects of moral violation frames on climate engagement. Specifically, a moderated mediation model was tested. The model posits that message credibility mediates the relationship between moral frames and policy support, as well as the relationship between moral frames and behavior intention. Moreover, political ideology moderated the indirect effects of message credibility. Based on moral foundations theory, seven messages were designed to activate individualizing and binding moral foundations. The results indicated that credibility consistently mediated the effects of the moral violation frame on climate engagement and that liberal-leaning individuals were more likely to perceive an individualizing frame as more credible than a binding frame. However, this difference was smaller among conservative-leaning individuals, with evidence for this moderated mediation model found only for policy support among college students. This study suggests that credibility is key for effective moral violations arguments of climate change.
气候变化在公共话语中越来越多地被从道德角度讨论。尽管越来越多的研究关注道德框架在弥合意识形态分歧方面的有效性，但很少有研究探讨感知可信度在促进框架效应方面所起的作用，而感知可信度是任何有说服力的论点的重要组成部分。为了进一步了解道德框架如何使具有不同意识形态的个人参与气候变化，并完善气候变化信息传递策略，进行了两项实验调查，以检验道德违规框架对气候变化参与的影响。具体来说，测试了一个有调节的中介模型。该模型假设信息可信度在道德框架与政策支持之间以及道德框架与行为意图之间的关系中起中介作用。此外，政治意识形态调节了信息可信度的间接效应。基于道德基础理论，设计了七个信息来激活个体化和约束性的道德基础。结果表明，可信度始终在道德违规框架对气候变化参与的影响中起中介作用，而且自由倾向的个体比保守倾向的个体更有可能认为个体化框架比约束性框架更可信。然而，在保守倾向的个体中，这种差异较小，仅在大学生中发现了政策支持方面的这种有调节的中介模型的证据。本研究表明，可信度是气候变化道德违规论证的关键。
