Uncertain climate: An investigation into public scepticism about anthropogenic climate change

Global Environmental Change

Volumn 21, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 1015-1024

  Poortinga, Wouter ^a,b   Spence, Alexa ^c   Whitmarsh, Lorraine ^b   Capstick, Stuart ^b   Pidgeon, Nick F ^b  

^a CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Ambivalence; Climate change; Public attitudes; Scepticism; Uncertainty

Indexed keywords

ANTHROPOGENIC EFFECT; CLIMATE CHANGE; DISEASE PREVALENCE; ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES; PUBLIC HEALTH; SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS; TYPOLOGY; UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS;

UNITED KINGDOM;

EID: 79960057279     PISSN: 09593780     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.03.001     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. American Psychological Association Psychology and Global Climate Change 2010, APA.
2. Anderegg W.R.L., Harold J. Climate Science and the Dynamics of Expert Consensus 2009, Schneider Lab at Stanford University and the Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford.
3. Anderegg W.R.L., Prall J.W., Harold J., Schneider S.H. Expert credibility in climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2010, 107:12107-12109.
4. Anderegg W.R.L., Prall J.W., Harold J. Reply to O'Neill and Boykoff: objective classification of climate experts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2010, 107(39):E152.
5. Antilla L. Climate of scepticism: U.S. newspaper coverage of the science of climate change. Global Environmental Change, Part A: Human and Policy Dimensions 2005, 15(4):338-352.
6. Berkhout F. Reconstructing boundaries and reason in the climate debate. Global Environmental Change 2010, 20:565-569.
7. Bibbings J. Climate Concern: Attitudes to Climate Change and Windfarms in Wales 2004, Welsh Consumer Council and Friends of the Earth Cymru, Cardiff.
8. Boholm Å., Löfstedt R. Facility Siting: Risk Power and Identity in Land Use Planning 2004, Earthscan, London.
9. Bord R., O'Connor R. The gender gap in environmental attitudes: the case of perceived vulnerability to risk. Social Science Quarterly 1997, 78:830-840.
10. Bord R.J., O'Connor R.E., Fisher A. In what sense does the public need to understand global climate change?. Public Understanding of Science 2000, 9:205-218.
11. Boykoff M.T., Boykoff J.M. Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Global Environmental Change 2004, 14:125-136.
12. Breckler S.J. A comparison of numerical indices for measuring attitude ambivalence. Educational and Psychological Measurement 1994, 52(2):350-365.
13. Burgess J., Harrison C., Filius P. Environmental communication and the cultural politics of environmental citizenship. Environment and Planning A 1998, 30:1445-1460.
14. Capstick, S., 2010. Scepticism within public perspectives on climate change. British Psychological Society Seminar Series, Seminar 1, Psychological Distance & Sustainability, 22 September 2010. School of Psychology, Cardiff. Available from: (accessed: 22.03.11). http://blogs.cf.ac.uk/whitmarsh/resource/Capstick.pdf.
15. Carolan M. Sociological ambivalence and climate change. Local Environment 2010, 15(4):309-321.
16. Cohen J. Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences 1988, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. second ed.
17. COI Attitudes to Climate Change - Amongst Young People -Wave 2. Key Research Findings Prepared for Defra 2008, Central Office of Information, London. http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/individual/attitudes/pdf/cc-youth-tracker-presentation.pdf.
18. Corner, A., 2010. Do climate change sceptics give scepticism a bad name? The Guardian. Available from: (accessed 17.02.11). http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/feb/22/climate-change-sceptics.
19. Defra Survey of Public Attitudes to Quality of Life and to the Environment: 2001 2002, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London.
20. Defra Survey of Public Attitudes and Behaviours toward the Environment: 2007 2007, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London.
21. Defra Climate Change Act 2008, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, (accessed 05.10.10). http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/legislation/cc_act_08/cc_act_08.aspx.
22. De Groot J.I.M., Steg L. Value orientations to explain environmental attitudes and beliefs: how to measure egoistic, altruistic and biospheric value orientations. Environment and Behavior 2008, 40:330-354.
23. Devine-Wright P. Beyond NIMBYism: towards an integrated framework for understanding public perceptions of wind energy. Wind Energy 2005, 8:125-139.
24. Department for Transport Public Attitudes Towards Climate Change and the Impact of Transport: 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 (January 2010 Report) 2010, Department for Transport, London, (accessed 05.10.10). http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/trsnstatsatt/climatechngeandtranport1.
25. Doran P.T., Zimmerman M.K. Examining the scientific consensus on climate change. EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union 2009, 90:22-23.
26. Downing P., Ballantyne J. Tipping Point or Turning Point? Social Marketing and Climate Change 2007, Ipsos-MORI, London.
27. DTI Energy White Paper: Our Energy Future - Creating a Low Carbon Economy 2003, Department for Trade and Industry, London.
28. Dunlap R.E., McCright A.M. A widening gap: republican and democratic views on climate change. Environment 2008, 50(5):26-35.
29. Dunlap R.E., McCright A.M. Climate change denial: sources actors and strategies. Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society. 2010, Routledge, Abington. C. Lever-Tracy (Ed.).
30. Eurobarometer Europeans Attitudes Towards Climate Change (Special Eurobarometer 332) 2009, European Commission, Europe, (accessed 05.10.10). http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_322_en.pdf.
31. Finucane M., Slovic P., Mertz C., Flynn J., Satterfield T. Gender, race, and perceived risk: the "white male" effect. Health Risk and Society 2000, 2:159-172.
32. Flynn J., Slovic P., Mertz C. Gender, race, and perception of environmental health risks. Risk Analysis 1994, 14:1101-1108.
33. Hargreaves I., Lewis J., Speers T. Towards a Better Map: Science the Public and the Media 2003, Economic and Social Research Council, London.
34. Inglehart R. Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society 1990, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
35. Jacques P., Dunlap R., Freeman M. The organization of denial: conservative think tanks and environmental skepticism. Environmental Politics 2008, 17:349-385.
36. Joireman J., Truelove H.B., Duell B. Effect of outdoor temperature, heat primes and anchoring on belief in global warming. Journal of Environmental Psychology 2010, 30(4):358-367.
37. Jonas K, Brömer P., Diehl M. Attitudinal ambivalence. European Review of Social Psychology 2000, 11:35-74.
38. Kerr R.A. Climate change: amid worrisome signs of warming 'climate fatigue' sets in. Science 2009, 326(5955):926-928.
39. Kollmuss A., Agyeman J. Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?. Environmental Education Research 2002, 8:239-260.
40. Lavine H., Thomsen C.J., Zanna M.P., Borgida E. On the primacy of affect in the determination of attitudes and behavior: the moderating role of affective-cognitive ambivalence. Journal of Experimental and Social Psychology 1998, 34:398-421.
41. Leiserowitz A. American risk perceptions: is climate change dangerous?. Risk Analysis 2005, 25:1433-1442.
42. Leiserowitz A., Maibach E., Roser-Renouf C. Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans' Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in January 2010. Yale Project on Climate Change 2010, Yale University and George Mason University, New Have, CT, (accessed 05.10.10). http://environment.yale.edu/uploads/AmericansGlobalWarmingBeliefs2010.pdf.
43. Leiserowitz A., Maibach E., Roser-Renouf C., Smith N. Climate Change in the American Mind: Americans' Global Warming Beliefs and Attitudes in June 2010. Yale Project on Climate Change Communication 2010, Yale University and George Mason University, New Haven, CT, (accessed 05.10.10). http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/ClimateBeliefsJune2010.pdf.
44. Lindeman M., Verkasalo M. Measuring values with the short Schwartz's values survey. Journal of Personality Assessment 2005, 85(2):170-178.
45. Lorenzoni I., Doria M., Leiserowitz A., Poortinga W., Pidgeon N.F. 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 2006, 9(3):265-281.
46. Lorenzoni I., Nicholson-Cole S., Whitmarsh L. Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Global Environmental Change 2007, 17:445-459.
47. Lowe T., Brown K., Dessai S., de França Doria M., Haynes K., Vincent K. Does tomorrow ever come? Disaster narrative and public perceptions of climate change. Public Understanding of Science 2006, 15(4):435-457.
48. McCright A.M. Dealing with climate change contrarian. Creating a Climate for Change: Communicating Climate Change and Facilitating Social Change 2007, 200-212. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S.C. Moser, L. Dilling (Eds.).
49. Michaels D., Monforton C. Manufacturing uncertainty: contested science and the protection of the public's health and environment. Public Health Matters 2005, 95(1):s39-s48.
50. Nature editorial Climate of fear. Nature 2010, 464:141.
51. Norton A., Leaman J. The Day After Tomorrow: Public Opinion on Climate Change 2004, MORI Social Research Institute, London.
52. O'Neill S., Boykoff M.T. Climate denier, skeptic, or contrarian?. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2010, 107(39):E151.
53. Oreskes N., Conway E. Merchants of Doubt 2010, Bloomsbury Press, London.
54. Patt A., Dessai S. Communicating uncertainty: lessons learned and suggestions for climate change assessment. Geoscience 2005, 337:425-441.
55. Petty R.E., Krosnick J.A. Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences 1995, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah.
56. Pidgeon N.F., Butler C. Risk analysis and climate change. Environmental Politics 2009, 18(5):670-688.
57. Pidgeon N.F., Lorenzoni I., Poortinga W. Climate change or nuclear power - no thanks! A quantitative study of public perceptions and risk framing in Britain. Global Environmental Change 2008, 18(1):69-85.
58. Poortinga W., Pidgeon N.F. Trust, the asymmetry principle, and the role of prior beliefs. Risk Analysis 2004, 24(6):1475-1486.
59. Poortinga W., Pidgeon N.F. Exploring the structure of attitudes toward genetically modified food. Risk Analysis 2006, 26(6):1-13.
60. Poortinga, W., Pidgeon, N.F., Lorenzoni, I., 2006. Public Perceptions of Nuclear Power, Climate Change and Energy Options in Britain: Summary Findings of a Survey Conducted during October and November 2005. Technical Report (Understanding Risk Working Paper 06-02). Centre for Environmental Risk, Norwich.
61. Poortinga W., Steg L., Vlek C. Values environmental concern and environmental behaviour: a study into household energy use. Environment and Behaviour 2004, 36:70-93.
62. Rahmstorf S. The Climate Sceptics 2004, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, (accessed 05.10.10). http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/Publications/Other/rahmstorf_climate_sceptics_2004.pdf.
63. Satterfield T., Mertz C., Slovic P. Discrimination, vulnerability, and justice in the face of risk. Risk Analysis 2004, 24:115-129.
64. Schwartz S. Universals in the content and structure of values: theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 1992, 25:1-65.
65. SDC Turning the Tide 2008, Sustainable Development Commission, London.
66. Shackley S., McLachlan C., Gough C. The public perception of carbon dioxide capture and storage in the UK: results from focus groups and a survey. Climate Policy 2005, 4(4):377-398.
67. Slimak M.W., Dietz T. Personal values, beliefs, and ecological risk perception. Risk Analysis 2006, 26(6):1689-1705.
68. Spence A., Pidgeon N.F. Psychology, climate change and sustainable behaviour. Environment 2009, 51(6):8-18.
69. Spence, A., Pidgeon, N., Poortinga, W., Venables, D., 2010. Blowing Hot And Cold On Climate Change: British Public Perceptions 2010. Paper presented at the Climate Change Perceptions, Risk Communication and Public Engagement Workshop, Cumberland Lodge, UK, July 2010.
70. Stern P.C. Towards a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues 2000, 56(3):407-424.
71. Stoll-Kleemann S., O'Riordan T., Jaeger C.C. The psychology of denial concerning climate mitigation measures: evidence from Swiss focus groups. Global Environmental Change 2001, 11:107-118.
72. Thompson M.M., Zanna M.P., Griffin D.W. Let's not be indifferent about (attitudinal) ambivalence. Attitude Strength: Antecedents and Consequences 1995, Erlbaum, Hillsdale. R.E. Petty, J.A. Krosnick (Eds.).
73. Toke D. Explaining wind power planning outcomes: some findings from a study in England and Wales. Energy Policy 2005, 33:1527-1539.
74. Upham, P., Whitmarsh, L., Poortinga, W., Purdam, K., Darnton, A., McLachlan, C., Devine-Wright, P., 2009. Public Attitudes to Environmental Change: a selective review of theory and practice. A research synthesis for the Living with Environmental Change Programme, Research Councils UK.
75. Upreti B. Conflict over biomass energy development in the United Kingdom: some observations and lessons from England and Wales. Energy Politics 2004, 32:785-800.
76. Weber E.U. What shapes perceptions of climate change?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2010, 1(3):332-342.
77. Whitmarsh, L., 2005. A study of public understanding of and response to climate change in the South of England. Unpublished doctoral thesis. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath.
78. Whitmarsh L. What's in a name? Commonalities and differences in public understanding of "climate change" and "global warming" Public Understanding of Science 2009, 18:401-420.
79. Whitmarsh, L., 2011. Scepticism and uncertainty about climate change: dimensions, determinants and change over time. Global Environmental Change (). doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.01.016.
80. Whitmarsh L, Seyfang G., O'Neill S. Public engagement with carbon and climate change: to what extent is the public 'carbon capable'?. Global Environmental Change 2011, 21:56-65.
81. Wynne B. Risk and environment as legitimatory discourses of technology: reflexivity inside out?. Current Sociology 2002, 50(3):459-477.