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The Effect of Information Provision on Public Consensus about Climate Change

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 11;11(4):e0151469. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151469. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Despite over 20 years of research and scientific consensus on the topic, climate change continues to be a politically polarizing issue. We conducted a survey experiment to test whether providing the public with information on the exact extent of scientific agreement about the occurrence and causes of climate change affects respondents' own beliefs and bridges the divide between conservatives and liberals. First, we show that the public significantly underestimated the extent of the scientific consensus. We then find that those given concrete information about scientists' views were more likely to report believing that climate change was already underway and that it was caused by humans. However, their beliefs about the necessity of making policy decisions and their willingness to donate money to combat climate change were not affected. Information provision affected liberals, moderates, and conservatives similarly, implying that the gap in beliefs between liberals and conservatives is not likely to be bridged by information treatments similar to the one we study. Finally, we conducted a 6-month follow-up with respondents to see if the treatment effect persisted; the results were statistically inconclusive.

MeSH terms

  • Climate Change*
  • Consensus*
  • Geographic Information Systems*
  • Humans
  • Public Opinion*

Grants and funding

Research support was received from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Campus Research Board ID# 13013 https://crb.research.illinois.edu/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.