• About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
Center for Public Interest Communications
Support
  • About
    • About
    • What is Public Interest Communications?
    • Our Team
    • Theories We Use
    • What We’ve Shared
    • Center Updates
    • Programs & Affiliates
      • frank gathering
      • The Research Prize in Public Interest Communications
      • Journal of Public Interest Communications
      • UF Programs
    • Contact Us
  • Our Services
    • Strategy Consulting
    • Issue Research
    • Training – Frameworks and Custom
  • Frameworks & Resources
  • Training
  • Case Studies
  • Research & Insights

How to Talk About Climate Change Science

  • April 12, 2016
  • 2 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0

To persuade climate change skeptics, ditch the metaphors and keep it simple.

Pie charts and simple statements about the scientific consensus are more effective than longer metaphors in communicating about climate change, according to a study published in September 2014 journal Climatic Change.

These results come from an experiment involving over 1,000 participants, conducted by Sander van der Linden and his colleagues at the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and the Center for Climate Change Communication.

Participants were asked to take part in a fictional public opinion poll that included questions about climate change. They were first asked a series of questions on their beliefs about climate change – whether most scientists believe it’s happening, whether they as participants believe it’s happening, whether it’s caused by humans and whether they worry about it and think we should take action to reduce it.

Participants then saw one of several informative statements about the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is caused by humans. Some participants saw a simple text statement that noted, “97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening.” Others saw this information accompanied by a pie chart.

A third group saw a metaphor about climate change, such as “If 97% of doctors concluded that your child is sick – would you believe that your kid is sick? 97% of climate scientists have concluded that human-caused climate change is happening.”

Afterwards, participants were again asked their opinions about climate change using the same questions as before.

The researchers found that all of the treatments – the statement, pie chart and metaphors – were effective at raising people’s estimates of the scientific consensus on climate change. However, the simple text and pie chart interventions were more effective than the metaphors.

“Compared to the metaphor conditions, participants in the pie chart and descriptive text conditions adjusted their estimates [of the consensus] upward at a significantly higher rate this effect was particularly strong for Republicans,” the researchers note.

The findings “suggest that when communicating the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, presenting information in a way that is short, simple and easy to comprehend and remember seems to offer the highest probability of success for all audiences.”

Climate Change

Researchers:
Sander L. van der Linden, Anthony Leiserowitz, and Geoffrey Feinberg, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication
Edward Maibach, Center for Climate Change Communication

0
0
0
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • climate change
  • frankology
  • persuasion
  • science
Previous Article
  • Research & Insights

Use Facebook to Correct Misinformation on GMOs

  • April 4, 2016
View Post
Next Article
  • Research & Insights

Emotions Make Us Blind to Political Lies

  • April 19, 2016
View Post
Think we can help with your goals? Read about our services and how we work.
Or reach out today to tell us a bit about your project and inquire how we might help.

 
 

Join our network

We'll send insights and opportunities when you least expect

More of our work
  • The Science of Story Building
  • Most Americans believe we should have gun regulation. Here is why those who don’t are winning the debate.
  • Why Intersectional Stories Are Key to Helping the Communities We Serve
  • Changing Mindsets, Changing the Rules
Latest from the Center
  • Teresa Gonzales and Nicole Bronzan
    Paper exploring local discursive frames of poverty and race wins 2023 research prize
  • Center welcomes two collaborators in research and strategy
  • 2023 Research Prize Finalists
    Center announces three finalists for the $10,000 public interest communications research prize
  • Rakeem Robinson
    Center honors the memory of colleague Rakeem Robinson
How We Help – Case Studies
  • BROKE project screenshot
    Re-examining narratives on poverty and wealth — the BROKE project
  • illustration
    Innovation Service of UNHCR: the UN Refugee Agency
  • hands with medicine
    Invest in Trust – a vaccine communications guide for CNAs

Subscribe

Keep up with our latest; request our periodic newsletter.

UF Logo

Center for Public Interest Communications
PO Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611-8400

An auxiliary unit of the College of Journalism and Communications

Copyright © 2022

Contact Us

We are eager to chat with you about your project or training need.

Send us a note

The Center for Public Interest Communications, the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to study, test and apply the science of strategic communication for social change. We are based at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

  • Social Change Communication
  • Science Communication
  • Strategic Communication
  • Broader Impacts
  • Public Interest Communication
  • Narrative Change
  • Leadership Development
  • Strategy Development
  • Effective Presentations
  • Research Translation & Insights

Input your search keywords and press Enter.