Impact Of Affective Endings Of Climate Change Appeals
Animal Rights/Vegan Activist Strategies Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Faunalytics.org
August 2021

For animal advocates, this study affirms the role of negative affect as a tool for heightening perception of climate change risk, namely in groups disengaged with the issue.

Icebergs, Greenland - photo by William Bossen on Unsplash

Climate change is a serious issue directly tied to the survival of wild species — and our use of animals for food; the seriousness of climate change makes effective climate advocacy a vital matter to study. Are we better to use messages that are optimistic, or pessimistic? Some studies find that pessimistic messaging may lead to outright denial if it doesn’t foster action, while others find that optimistic messaging might not even trigger any perception of risk in an audience.

This study set out to investigate how affective (optimistic, pessimistic, or fatalistic) endings of climate change appeals impact individual risk perception and individual behavior of an audience. The authors hypothesized that pessimistic calls to action would heighten emotional arousal, leading to an increase in risk perception and the belief that individual behavior matters (outcome efficacy), and that message receivers with liberal leanings, would be less impacted by climate change appeals than conservatives. Three online experiments were held to test the validity of these hypotheses.

For animal advocates, this study affirms the role of negative affect as a tool for heightening perception of climate change risk, namely in groups disengaged with the issue. Climate change advocacy has an effect on the lives of animals, and this study may offer ideas for how we can study animal advocacy messaging as well.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE: Impact of Affective Endings Of Climate Change Appeals

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