Skepticism About Climate Change May Be Linked to Concerns About Economy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2016/05/climate-change.aspx

[font face=Serif]May 4, 2016
[font size=5]Skepticism About Climate Change May Be Linked to Concerns About Economy[/font]

[font size=4]Americans dismiss scientific evidence of climate change despite education efforts, study finds[/font]

[font size=3]WASHINGTON — Americans may be more likely to accept the scientific evidence of human-caused climate change and its potentially devastating effects if they believe the economy is strong and stable, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

The findings may help explain why many Americans haven’t been swayed by public education and advocacy efforts indicating that climate change is being caused by humans. People who are concerned about the economy and who are strong supporters of the free market system may be more skeptical about climate change and downplay its potential effects, the study found. The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General®.

“The problem isn’t primarily ignorance about this issue,” said lead researcher Erin Hennes, PhD, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University. “Even when people are exposed to the same information, their attitudes about climate change may be polarized because they perceive the information in different ways.”

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In an experiment conducted online, 187 Americans ranging from 18 to 70 years old watched a newscast with skeptical commentary about a NASA documentary on climate change. Participants who more enthusiastically supported the capitalist system were more dubious about climate change, and they misremembered facts from the newscast about the severity of climate change. Conversely, participants who were more critical of the capitalist system and more interested in social change recalled the information about climate change as being even more severe than the facts that were presented.

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http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-xge0000148.pdf

[angstlessk]

2. Average Americans do not care about the 'economy', they care about JOBS

The rich who do care about the 'economy' scare the working class that fixing global warming will cost JOBS, but in reality it will shift riches from the fossil fuel 'economy' to the sustainable energy 'economy'.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Note that the biases reported are based on economy and not jobs

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In an experiment conducted online, 187 Americans ranging from 18 to 70 years old watched a newscast with skeptical commentary about a NASA documentary on climate change. Participants who more enthusiastically supported the capitalist system were more dubious about climate change, and they misremembered facts from the newscast about the severity of climate change. Conversely, participants who were more critical of the capitalist system and more interested in social change recalled the information about climate change as being even more severe than the facts that were presented.

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