Framing responsibility in climate change discourse: Ethnocentric attribution bias, perceived causes, and policy attitudes

Journal of Environmental Psychology

Volumn 36, Issue , 2013, Pages 27-36

  Jang, S Mo ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

Author keywords

Attribution; Climate change; Ethnocentric attribution; Framing; Global warming

Indexed keywords

EID: 84880655655     PISSN: 02724944     EISSN: 15229610     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.07.003     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Bamberg S., Moser G. Twenty years after Hines, Hungerford, and Tomera: A new meta-analysis of psycho-social determinants of pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology 2007, 27:14-25.
2. Baron R.M., Kenny D.A. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1986, 51:1173-1182.
3. Bauer M.W., Allum N., Miller S. What can we learn from 25 years of PUS survey research? Liberating and expanding the agenda. Public Understanding of Science 2007, 16:79-95.
4. 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.
5. Bostrom A., Lashof D. Weather or climate change?. Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change 2007, 31-43. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. S.C. Moser, L. Dilling (Eds.).
6. Chess C., Johnson B.B. Information is not enough. Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change 2007, 153-166. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. S.C. Moser, L. Dilling (Eds.).
7. Choi I., Nisbett R.E., Norenzayan A. Causal attribution across cultures: Variation and universality. Psychological Bulletin 1999, 125:47-63.
8. Druckman J.N. On the limits of framing effects: Who can frame?. The Journal of Politics 2001, 63(4):1041-1066.
9. Druckman J.N., Green D.P., Kuklinski J.H., Lupia A. Cambridge handbook of experimental political science 2011, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY.
10. Dunlap R.E., McCright A.M. Awiden Republican and Democratic. Environment 2008, 50(5):26-35.
11. Farnsworth S.J., Lichter S.R. Scientific assessments of climate change information in news and entertainment media. Science Communication 2012, 34:435-459.
12. Feinberg M., Willer R. Apocalypse soon? Dire messages reduce belief in global warming by contradicting just-world beliefs. Psychological Science 2011, 22:34-38.
13. Ferguson M.A., Branscombe N.R. Collective guilt mediates the effect of beliefs about global warming on willingness to engage in mitigation behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology 2010, 30:135-142.
14. Gifford R. The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. American Psychologist 2011, 66:290-302.
15. Hamilton L.C. Education, politics, and opinions about climate change evidence for interaction effects. Climatic Change 2011, 104:231-242.
16. Hart P.S., Nisbet E.C. Boomerang effects in science communication: How motivated reasoning and identity cues amplify opinion polarization about climate mitigation policies. Communication Research 2012, 39:701-723.
17. Hayes A.F. PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable moderation, mediation, and conditional process modeling 2012, [White paper]. Retrieved from. http://www.afhayes.com/public/process2012.pdf.
18. Hayes A.F., Preacher K.J. Statistical mediation analysis with a multicategorical independent variable 2013, [White paper]. Retrieved from. http://www.afhayes.com/.
19. Heath Y., Gifford R. Free-market ideology and environmental degradation. Environment and Behavior 2006, 38:48-71.
20. Hewstone M., Ward C. Ethnocentrism and causal attribution in Southeast Asia. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1985, 48:614-623.
21. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Climate change 2007 2007, Synthesis report. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from. http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm.
22. International Energy Agency World energy outlook 2010 2010, Retrieved September 5, 2012, from. http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org.
23. Iyengar S. Framing responsibility for political issues: The case of poverty. Political Behavior 1990, 12:19-40.
24. Iyengar S. Is anyone responsible? How television frames political issues 1991, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
25. Johnson D., Levin S. The tragedy of cognition: Psychological biases and environmental inaction. Current Science 2009, 97:1593-1603.
26. Jone J.M. In U.S., concerns about global warming stable at lower levels 2011, Retrieved September 5, 2012, from, Accessed 20.09.12. http://www.gallup.com/poll/146606/Concerns-Global-Warming-Stable-LowerLevels.aspx.
27. Kellstedt P.M., Zahran S., Vedlitz A. Personal efficacy, the information environment, and attitudes toward global warming and climate change in the United States. Risk Analysis 2008, 28:113-126.
28. Leiserowitz A.A. Communicating the risks of global warming: American risk perceptions, affective images, and interpretive communities. Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change 2007, 44-63. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, US. S.C. Moser, L. Dilling (Eds.).
29. McCright A.M., Dunlap R.E. The politicization of climate change and polarization in the American public's views of global warming, 2001-2010. The Sociological Quarterly 2011, 52:155-194.
30. Malka A., Krosnick J.A., Langer G. The association of knowledge with concern about global warming: trusted information sources shape public thinking. Risk Analysis 2009, 29:633-647.
31. Morgan M.G., Fischhoff B., Bostrom A., Atman C.J. Risk communication: A mental models approach 2002, Cambridge University Press, UK.
32. Moser S.C. More bad news: The risk of neglecting emotional responses to climate change information. Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change 2007, 64-80. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, US. S.C. Moser, L. Dilling (Eds.).
33. Moser S.C., Dilling L. Creating a climate for change: Communicating climate change and facilitating social change 2007, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, US.
34. National Research Council Advancing the science of climate change 2010, National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
35. Nisbet M.C. Communicating climate change: Why frames matter for public engagement. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 2009, 51:12-23.
36. Nisbet M.C., Myers T. The polls trends: Twenty years of public opinion about global warming. Public Opinion Quarterly 2007, 71:444-470.
37. O'Keefe D.J. Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental persuasive message effects research. Communication Theory 2003, 13:251-274.
38. O'Neill S., Nicholson-Cole S. Fear won't do it: Promoting positive engagement with climate change through visual and iconic representations. Science Communication 2009, 30:355-379.
39. Oreskes N. The scientific consensus on climate change. Science 2004, 306:1686-1688.
40. Page B.I., Shapiro R.Y. Effects of public opinion on policy. The American Political Science Review 1983, 175-190.
41. Pettigrew T.F. The ultimate attribution error: Extending Allport's cognitive analysis of prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 1979, 5:461-476.
42. Pettus A.M., Giles M.B. Personality characteristics and environment attitudes. Population and Environment 1987, 9:127-137.
43. Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Public priorities: Deficit rising, terrorism slipping 2012, Retrieved from. http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/1-23-12%2520Priorities%2520Release.pdf.
44. Power J.G., Murphy S.T., Coover G. Priming prejudice how stereotypes and counter-stereotypes influence attribution of responsibility and credibility among ingroups and outgroups. Human Communication Research 1996, 23:36-58.
45. Redlawsk D.P. Hot cognition or cool consideration? Testing the effects of motivated reasoning on political decision making. The Journal of Politics 2002, 64:1021-1044.
46. Ross L., Greene D., House P. The "false consensus effect": An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1977, 13:279-301.
47. Scannell L., Gifford R. Personally relevant climate change: The role of place attachment and local versus global message framing in engagement. Environment and Behavior 2013, 45:60-85.
48. Spence A., Pidgeon N. Framing and communicating climate change: The effects of distance and outcome frame manipulations. Global Environmental Change 2010, 20:656-667.
49. Stern P.C. Psychological dimensions of global environmental change. Annual Review of Psychology 1992, 43:269-302.
50. Swim J.K., Stern P.C., Doherty T.J., Clayton S., Reser J.P., Weber E.U., et al. Psychology's contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change. American Psychologist 2011, 66:241-250.
51. Tao C.-C., Bucy E.P. Conceptualizing media stimuli in experimental research: Psychological versus attribute-based definitions. Human Communication Research 2007, 33:397-426.
52. Valentino N.A., Hutchings V.L., White I.K. Cues that matter: How political ads prime racial attitudes during campaigns. American Political Science Review 2002, 96(01):75-90.
53. Weber J.G. The nature of ethnocentric attribution bias: Ingroup protection or enhancement?. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 1994, 30:482-504.
54. Weiner B. An attribution theory of achievement, motivation, and emotion. Psychological Review 1985, 92:548-573.
55. Weiner B. Social motivation, justice, and the moral emotions: An attributional approach 2006, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah.
56. Whitmarsh L. Behavioral responses to climate change: Asymmetry of intentions and impacts. Journal of Environmental Psychology 2009, 29:13-23.
57. Zhao X., Leiserowitz A.A., Maibach E.W., Roser-Renouf C. Attention to science/environment news positively predicts and attention to political news negatively predicts global warming risk perceptions and policy support. Journal of Communication 2011, 61:713-731.