Climate Outreach
x
  • Sign up for monthly updates on our new research and practical guides, upcoming events, team vacancies and occasional fundraising initiatives. You may review our privacy notice.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Newsletter Sign-up
  • Donate
  • About us
    • We are Europe's leading climate change communicators, bridging the gap between research and practice and helping to widen engagement across a broader spectrum of society.
      • Purpose
      • Our Services
      • Team
      • Partners & Funders
      • Join us
    • Close
  • Our Work
    • We partner with leading academic teams to research some of the most central questions about climate change communication and translate this work into practical resources and workshops for our partners.
      • Advice & Training
      • Communications Research
      • Widening Engagement
    • Close
  • Our Resources
    • We’ve designed our resources to be practical tools for anyone interested in communicating about climate change more effectively. We’d love to hear how you are using them and welcome all feedback.
    • By Programme
      • Science Comms
      • Global Narratives
      • Climate Visuals
      • Climate Impacts
      • Centre-right
      • Faith
      • Young Voices
      • Migration
      • Solutions
      • Business
      • All
    • Research Resources
      • Research Library
      • Research Round-Up
    • Close
  • Events
      • In order to spark new climate conversations, we run a wide range of public events. These include workshops, presentations, online webinars and book launches.
      • Forthcoming Events
      • Past Events (recordings)
    • Close
  • Blog
    • We invite readers to comment on our articles and contribute to the discussion.
      • All
      • Centre-right
      • Climate Visuals
      • Faith
      • Youth
      • Migration
      • Climate Impacts
    • Close
  • In the news
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Climate Visuals Home
  • Project
  • Galleries
  • The Research
  • Blog
  • I want images that…
    • …people easily understand
    • …evoke positive emotions
    • …evoke negative emotions
    • …are likely to be shared
    • …encourage change and a demand for change
    • …link climate change to everyday concerns
    • …promote positive social norms
Home  »  Research Library  »  Cross-national comparisons of image associations with “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” among laypeople in the United States of America and Great Britain.

Cross-national comparisons of image associations with “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” among laypeople in the United States of America and Great Britain.

Lorenzoni, I., Leiserowitz, A., Doria, M. D. F., Poortinga, W., & Pidgeon, N. (2006). Cross-national comparisons of image associations with “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” among laypeople in the United States of America and Great Britain. Journal of Risk Research, 9(3), 265. doi:10.1080/13669870600613658

Abstract

Climate change poses significant risks to societies worldwide, yet governmental responses differ greatly on either side of the North Atlantic. Risk perception studies have shown that citizens in the United States and Great Britain have similar risk perceptions of climate change: it is considered a distant threat, of limited personal importance. Engaging the public on this issue is thus challenging. Affect, the positive or negative evaluation of an object, idea, or mental image, has been shown to powerfully influence individual processing of information and decision‐making. This paper explores the affective images underlying public risk perceptions of climate change through comparative findings from national surveys in the USA and in Great Britain. American and British respondents predominantly referred to generic manifestations and impacts of climate change or to a different environmental problem (ozone depletion). The terms “global warming” and “climate change”, and their associated images, evoked negative affective responses from most respondents. Personally relevant impacts, causes, and solutions to climate change, were rarely mentioned, indicating that climate change is psychologically distant for most individuals in both nations. The role of affective images in risk judgements and individual decision‐making deserves greater study.

Link

doi:10.1080/13669870600613658

Reference

Doria, M.D.F; Leiserowitz, A.A; Lorenzoni, I; Pidgeon, N; Poortinga, W (2006). Cross-national comparisons of image associations with “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” among laypeople in the United States of America and Great Britain. Journal of Risk Research 9(3), 265.

Tags

2006 america among associations Britain change Climate comparisons cross global Great image Journal of Risk Research laypeople national States United warming with

« Back to research library

 

Climate Outreach is a charitable company, limited by guarantee, founded in 2004 to increase public understanding and awareness of climate change.

Climate Outreach Information Network is now trading as ‘Climate Outreach’: charity registration number 1123315, company number is 06459313, registered in England and Wales.

Read our Privacy Policy

Website by Hands Up

 

CONTACT DETAILS

Tel: +44 (0)1865 403334

Climate Outreach, The Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX4 1JE

info@climateoutreach.org

Share This
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn