Self-Affirmation Tendency and Political Conservatives’ Responses to Health Information Related to Climate Change

• In Event: HIGH-DENSITY: Effects of Public Information on Health Outcomes

Abstract

Climate change is one of the most politically divisive issues in the United States, with clear ideological polarization on the liberal-conservative spectrum. Prior research suggests few Americans know about the health impacts of climate change. For this reason, novel information about this topic may pose a significant identity threat to political conservatives, increasing the likelihood of defensive processing. Such tendency toward defensive processing, however, may be mitigated by self-affirmation. In this study, we examine the influence of self-affirmation tendency on conservatives’ responses to information on the public health impacts of climate change. An online experiment was conducted with a sample of politically conservative MTurk workers. The general hypothesis was supported that those higher in self-affirmation tendency were more receptive to a message depicting the health effects of climate change.

Authors

• Xiaoquan Zhao, George Mason U

• John Kotcher, George Mason U

• Xiaomei Cai, George Mason U

• Neil John Stenhouse, U of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication

• Edward Maibach, George Mason U