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The climate change beliefs fallacy: the influence of climate change beliefs on the perceived consequences of climate change

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  • Gea Hoogendoorn
  • Bernadette Sütterlin
  • Michael Siegrist

Abstract

Despite scientific agreement about the anthropogenic cause of climate change, the general public holds different beliefs regarding the causes of climate change. Some believe climate change to be caused by natural processes, while others believe it to be caused by human activities. People’s beliefs regarding the causes of climate change drive both their risk perception and their mitigation behavior, and such beliefs are not easy to alter. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how these beliefs shape people’s perception of the consequences of climate change. We find that beliefs regarding the causes of climate change can lead to different perceptions of the possible consequences of climate change. People who believed climate change to be caused by human activities rather than by natural processes perceived the consequences of the 2017 hurricanes to be worse, as well as to cause more suffering, than people who believed climate change to be caused by natural processes. These results suggest a fallacy, since the suffering of people and animals affected by hurricanes does not depend on the causes of those hurricanes, but rather on the damage that is caused. With regard to communication, it is important to link the currently observable events possible caused by climate change to human behavior, since doing so may increase people’s awareness of the severity of the consequences of anthropogenic climate change and, thus, possibly also their willingness to engage in mitigation behavior and prevention measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Gea Hoogendoorn & Bernadette Sütterlin & Michael Siegrist, 2020. "The climate change beliefs fallacy: the influence of climate change beliefs on the perceived consequences of climate change," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(12), pages 1577-1589, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jriskr:v:23:y:2020:i:12:p:1577-1589
    DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2020.1749114
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    Cited by:

    1. Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Simona-Andreea Apostu & Andreea Paul, 2020. "Exploring Citizens’ Actions in Mitigating Climate Change and Moving toward Urban Circular Economy. A Multilevel Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-46, September.
    2. Diekert, Florian & Goeschl, Timo & König-Kersting, Christian, 2024. "The Behavioral Economics of Extreme Event Attribution," Working Papers 0741, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    3. Michael Siegrist & Joseph Árvai, 2020. "Risk Perception: Reflections on 40 Years of Research," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(S1), pages 2191-2206, November.
    4. Oana Georgiana SECUIAN & Anamaria Gabriela VLAD & Mihaela VLAD, 2021. "Smart city a solution for dealing with climate change in European cities," Smart Cities International Conference (SCIC) Proceedings, Smart-EDU Hub, Faculty of Public Administration, National University of Political Studies & Public Administration, vol. 9, pages 285-296, November.

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