Psychology and Climate Change

By James Fox

Climate change has been theorised and explored by scientists since the beginning of the 19th century and whilst warnings have been communicated to governments and industries, very little attention has been given to human decisions and behaviours and how this affects the climate. However, it is imperative that human behaviour towards climate change Is considered. As it is individual decision makings, the support of policies and use of technologies are the driving force for societal change.

Therefore, simply telling people about climate change is not enough. It is only through the examination of human behaviours and how individuals perceive climate change, can we identify the most effective ways to approach the problem, as a society.

Fig. 1

It’s Not Easy Being Green... But Why!

Given the fact that our planet is warming up year after year and that scientists have warned, nay, pleaded with the public for several years that anthropogenic climate change is almost at the point of no return. Why is it seemingly so difficult for us, the human race, to make the necessary changes?

Well, psychologists have pondered the question for many years. Why do people do things, that aren’t consistent with their beliefs? In fact, Social Psychologist, Leon Festinger, gave name to this study, Cognitive Dissonance. Festinger, stated that once a person experiences a form of dissonance, they will likely strive to achieve consonance or consistency, by implementing a dissonance-reduction strategy or attitude change. [1]

Example

Have you ever discarded a plastic bottle in a non-recyclable bin, even though you are fully aware of the negative impacts it would have on the environment? Well, that’s dissonance or a counter attitudinal behaviour. Knowing that your plastic bottle may end up in the sea, increasing the demand for more plastic bottles to be made, resulting in an increase of emissions from the manufacturing and distribution of the new bottle. You may now be experiencing a sense of cognitive discomfort due to the fact your actions have not aligned with your behaviours, which you will seek to alleviate or to regain consonance.

To alleviate this mental discomfort and regain a cognitive balance, you are likely to justify the action of throwing away the bottle by giving yourself an excuse, such as: “It’s only one bottle, I would have had to carry it around for the next two hours if I don’t just throw it away now, this one little bottle won’t have that big of an effect on the planet”. These are not malicious acts against or a complete disregard for the climate, it is simply that, human beings are hard wired to achieve consonance or cognitive consistency.

Confirmation Bias

Another one of our fantastic humanistic traits that we must also contend with is, confirmation bias [3]. The Britannica defines confirmation bias as, “the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs” [4]. This is largely unintentional and not completely obvious to the individual at first. However, when it comes to climate change, it can be very counterproductive and extremely polarising.

Should you be teetering on the side of climate change being real or not, then you are likely, but unintentionally, going to be searching through or subconsciously taking notice of media that confirms your beliefs, giving more credence to your original beliefs.

Fig. 2

A Psychologists Role

Well, psychologists are working in many important ways to help in the fight against climate change. Through the understanding of human behaviour and what people know about climate change, they are able to help towards developing mitigation strategies, so to change societies environmentally harmful activities. They can do this, through identifying why people are unable to change their behaviours and help seek out strategies with potential to motivate change.

Psychologists will also play a key role in societies adaption to irreversible climate changes. This will involve migration, psychological well-being and health and change in food habits, due to potentially scarce food sources. Supporting the idea, that the field of psychology should be at the forefront of the fight against climate change.

References:

[1] Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press. Stanford California.

[2] Mynatt, C., Doherty, M. and Tweney, R., 1977. Confirmation Bias in a Simulated Research Environment: An Experimental Study of Scientific Inference. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

[3] Casad, B. J. (2019, October 9). Confirmation bias. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias

Image Sources:

[1] Spiske, M. IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN _KERMIT THE FROG. Global climate change strike. [image] Available at: <https://unsplash.com/photos/FSpOrEqFND4> [Accessed 10 March 2021].

[2] The Decision Lab, n.d. Confirmation Bias. [image] Available at: <https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/confirmation-bias/> [Accessed 10 March 2021].