Psychological self-protection in the face of climate change : A need-based empirical investigation of the spectrum of climate denial
Wullenkord, Marlis LU
(2021)
- Abstract
- Climate change is an existential threat to human survival, the social organization of society, and the stability of ecosystems. It is thereby profoundly frightening. In the face of threat, people often want to protect themselves instead of engaging in mitigating behaviors. When psychological resources are insufficient to cope, people often respond with different forms of denial. In this dissertation, I contribute original knowledge to the understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon of climate denial from a psychological perspective.
There are four major gaps in the literature on climate denial: First, the spectrum of climate denial as a self-protective response to the climate crisis has not received attention within psychology.... (More) - Climate change is an existential threat to human survival, the social organization of society, and the stability of ecosystems. It is thereby profoundly frightening. In the face of threat, people often want to protect themselves instead of engaging in mitigating behaviors. When psychological resources are insufficient to cope, people often respond with different forms of denial. In this dissertation, I contribute original knowledge to the understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon of climate denial from a psychological perspective.
There are four major gaps in the literature on climate denial: First, the spectrum of climate denial as a self-protective response to the climate crisis has not received attention within psychology. Second, basic psychological need satisfaction, a fundamental indicator of human functioning and the ability to cope with threat, has not been investigated as a predictor of climate denial. Third, relations of the spectrum of climate denial to climate-relevant emotions, specifically climate anxiety, have not been examined empirically. Forth, it has not been investigated how the spectrum of climate denial relates to established predictors of climate denial, namely right-wing ideological convictions and male gender. To address those gaps, I investigate what the spectrum of climate denial looks like in the German context and how it relates to basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, pro-environmental behavior, climate anxiety, ideological conviction, and gender.
Five manuscripts reveal that climate denial exists on a spectrum in the German context, ranging from the distortion of facts (interpretive climate denial, specifically denial of personal and global outcome severity) to the denial of the implications of climate change (implicatory climate denial, specifically avoidance, denial of guilt, and rationalization of one's own involvement). Across analyses, low basic psychological need satisfaction predicted the spectrum of climate denial, which was negatively related to pro-environmental behavior. Climate denial was generally negatively related to climate anxiety, except for a positive association of avoidance and climate anxiety. Right-wing ideological conviction was the strongest predictor of climate denial across the spectrum. However, low need satisfaction and male gender were additional weaker predictors of implicatory climate denial.
These findings suggest that the spectrum of climate denial serves many psychological functions. Climate denial is possibly both a self-protective strategy to downregulate emotions and to protect oneself from loss of privilege. In short, it represents a barrier to climate action that may only be resolved once people have sufficient psychological resources to face the threat of climate change and cope with their underlying self-protective, emotional responses. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/24619d7c-fb9f-478c-bb2c-dcecff77f6db
- author
- Wullenkord, Marlis
LU
- supervisor
- publishing date
- 2021-09-28
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- climate change, climate denial, Environmental psychology, climate anxiety, basic psychological needs, Self-determination theory, ideology, self-protection, defensiveness
- DOI
- 10.13140/RG.2.2.32844.95362
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 24619d7c-fb9f-478c-bb2c-dcecff77f6db
- alternative location
- https://kola.opus.hbz-nrw.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/2251
- date added to LUP
- 2022-02-24 18:53:46
- date last changed
- 2022-02-25 07:43:21
@phdthesis{24619d7c-fb9f-478c-bb2c-dcecff77f6db,
abstract = {{Climate change is an existential threat to human survival, the social organization of society, and the stability of ecosystems. It is thereby profoundly frightening. In the face of threat, people often want to protect themselves instead of engaging in mitigating behaviors. When psychological resources are insufficient to cope, people often respond with different forms of denial. In this dissertation, I contribute original knowledge to the understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon of climate denial from a psychological perspective. <br/><br/>There are four major gaps in the literature on climate denial: First, the spectrum of climate denial as a self-protective response to the climate crisis has not received attention within psychology. Second, basic psychological need satisfaction, a fundamental indicator of human functioning and the ability to cope with threat, has not been investigated as a predictor of climate denial. Third, relations of the spectrum of climate denial to climate-relevant emotions, specifically climate anxiety, have not been examined empirically. Forth, it has not been investigated how the spectrum of climate denial relates to established predictors of climate denial, namely right-wing ideological convictions and male gender. To address those gaps, I investigate what the spectrum of climate denial looks like in the German context and how it relates to basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, pro-environmental behavior, climate anxiety, ideological conviction, and gender. <br/><br/>Five manuscripts reveal that climate denial exists on a spectrum in the German context, ranging from the distortion of facts (interpretive climate denial, specifically denial of personal and global outcome severity) to the denial of the implications of climate change (implicatory climate denial, specifically avoidance, denial of guilt, and rationalization of one's own involvement). Across analyses, low basic psychological need satisfaction predicted the spectrum of climate denial, which was negatively related to pro-environmental behavior. Climate denial was generally negatively related to climate anxiety, except for a positive association of avoidance and climate anxiety. Right-wing ideological conviction was the strongest predictor of climate denial across the spectrum. However, low need satisfaction and male gender were additional weaker predictors of implicatory climate denial. <br/><br/>These findings suggest that the spectrum of climate denial serves many psychological functions. Climate denial is possibly both a self-protective strategy to downregulate emotions and to protect oneself from loss of privilege. In short, it represents a barrier to climate action that may only be resolved once people have sufficient psychological resources to face the threat of climate change and cope with their underlying self-protective, emotional responses.}},
author = {{Wullenkord, Marlis}},
keywords = {{climate change; climate denial; Environmental psychology; climate anxiety; basic psychological needs; Self-determination theory; ideology; self-protection; defensiveness}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{09}},
title = {{Psychological self-protection in the face of climate change : A need-based empirical investigation of the spectrum of climate denial}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32844.95362}},
doi = {{10.13140/RG.2.2.32844.95362}},
year = {{2021}},
}