: Climate change anxiety (CCA) is an emerging yet not clearly defined construct. Here, we examine the relationship between CCA and climate change-related fear in response to messages differently framing uncertainty and anticipation concerning climate change, exploring how the former differs from general anxiety measures. To this purpose, young and healthy volunteers were assigned to three different framing conditions. Their emotional responses as well as eco-emotions and beliefs about climate change were collected. By employing a Bayesian approach, we found that framing the consequences of climate change effectively induces heightened fear and that CCA strongly predicted fear levels, while general anxiety measures did not. Overall, these results reflect CCA's unique and specific nature in influencing climate change-related fear. Interestingly, we found fear to predict intention scores only following the framings that did not effectively induce action intentions, consistent with prior findings on fear without efficacy framing. Instead, reading about the negative consequences motivated action the most. Following this framing, we found that eco-anger, instead of fear, consistently predicted intentions to engage in climate action. These results emphasize the complex interplay between CCA, eco-emotions, efficacy, and behavioral engagement.

Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act / von Gal, Alessandro; Fabiani, Greta; Piccardi, Laura. - In: FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 1664-1078. - 15:(2024). [10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1341921]

Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act

von Gal, Alessandro
;
Piccardi, Laura
2024

Abstract

: Climate change anxiety (CCA) is an emerging yet not clearly defined construct. Here, we examine the relationship between CCA and climate change-related fear in response to messages differently framing uncertainty and anticipation concerning climate change, exploring how the former differs from general anxiety measures. To this purpose, young and healthy volunteers were assigned to three different framing conditions. Their emotional responses as well as eco-emotions and beliefs about climate change were collected. By employing a Bayesian approach, we found that framing the consequences of climate change effectively induces heightened fear and that CCA strongly predicted fear levels, while general anxiety measures did not. Overall, these results reflect CCA's unique and specific nature in influencing climate change-related fear. Interestingly, we found fear to predict intention scores only following the framings that did not effectively induce action intentions, consistent with prior findings on fear without efficacy framing. Instead, reading about the negative consequences motivated action the most. Following this framing, we found that eco-anger, instead of fear, consistently predicted intentions to engage in climate action. These results emphasize the complex interplay between CCA, eco-emotions, efficacy, and behavioral engagement.
2024
Bayesian analysis; climate change anxiety; eco-anxiety; eco-emotions; framing; sustainability
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act / von Gal, Alessandro; Fabiani, Greta; Piccardi, Laura. - In: FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY. - ISSN 1664-1078. - 15:(2024). [10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1341921]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1705796
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