Who cares about the Climate? - The relationship between Social Identities, Political Orientation and Environmental Concern
(2025) PSPR14 20251Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Aiming to better understand the climate as a polarized issue, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the construct of Environmental Concern. Furthermore, it examined how Global Identity (to what extent an individual identifies with all of humanity) and Political Orientation are related to Environmental Concern. Additionally, it explored possible moderating and mediating factors in the relationship. Data collection was managed through a self report questionnaire (N = 680). Results showed that Environmental Concern is a multifaceted construct, comprising at least two underlying dimensions: Affect and Cognition. A mediation moderation path analysis replicated previous international results in a Swedish context, in that Global... (More)
- Aiming to better understand the climate as a polarized issue, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the construct of Environmental Concern. Furthermore, it examined how Global Identity (to what extent an individual identifies with all of humanity) and Political Orientation are related to Environmental Concern. Additionally, it explored possible moderating and mediating factors in the relationship. Data collection was managed through a self report questionnaire (N = 680). Results showed that Environmental Concern is a multifaceted construct, comprising at least two underlying dimensions: Affect and Cognition. A mediation moderation path analysis replicated previous international results in a Swedish context, in that Global Identity had a positive relation to Environmental Concern. Nevertheless, Political Orientation was a more powerful predictor of Environmental Concern. Psychological Distance (referring to the perceived distance to climate change) was suggested to mediate the effect of Global Identity and Political Orientation on Cognitive, but not Affective, Environmental Concern. The further right respondents identified on the political spectrum the more distant they perceived climate change to be. Future research should consider the complexity of Environmental Concern, and provide a clear definition when operationalizing the term. In conclusion, the present study broadens the understanding of the underlying mechanisms underpinning the climate as an affectively and politically polarized issue. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Syftet med denna studie var att skapa en bättre förståelse för klimatet som en affektivt och politiskt polariserad fråga. Studien undersökte termen klimatattityd (Environmental Concern) och hur global identitet (grad av identifikation med hela mänskligheten) och politisk orientering relaterade till begreppet. Dessutom undersöktes möjliga modererande och medierande variabler i relationen. Datainsamlingen skedde genom självskattningsformulär (N = 680). Mot bakgrund av en explorativ faktoranalys konstaterades klimatattityd vara ett multidimensionellt begrepp bestående av åtminstone en affektiv och en kognitiv komponent. Genom en path-analys som inkluderade mediering och moderering bekräftades tidigare internationella resultat i en svensk... (More)
- Syftet med denna studie var att skapa en bättre förståelse för klimatet som en affektivt och politiskt polariserad fråga. Studien undersökte termen klimatattityd (Environmental Concern) och hur global identitet (grad av identifikation med hela mänskligheten) och politisk orientering relaterade till begreppet. Dessutom undersöktes möjliga modererande och medierande variabler i relationen. Datainsamlingen skedde genom självskattningsformulär (N = 680). Mot bakgrund av en explorativ faktoranalys konstaterades klimatattityd vara ett multidimensionellt begrepp bestående av åtminstone en affektiv och en kognitiv komponent. Genom en path-analys som inkluderade mediering och moderering bekräftades tidigare internationella resultat i en svensk kontext genom att global identitet konstaterades ha en positiv relation till klimatattityd. I relation till global identitet visade sig politisk orientering däremot vara en mer kraftfull prediktor av klimattityd. Vidare visade sig graden av politisk identifiering vara obetydlig för klimatattityd. I studien föreslogs psykologisk distans (upplevt avstånd till klimatkrisen) kunna mediera effekten av global identitet och politisk orientering på kognitiv klimatattityd, men inte på affektiv klimatattityd. I studien konstaterades att personer upplevde klimatförändringarna som mer psykologiskt avlägsna ju längre åt höger på det politiska spektrumet de befann sig. Framtida forskning bör bekräfta och ta hänsyn till komplexiteten i begreppet klimatattityd, vilket även bör tas i beaktande när begreppet operationaliseras. Sammanfattningsvis fördjupar studien förståelsen för de bakomliggande mekanismerna som ligger till grund för klimatet som en affektivt och politiskt polariserad fråga. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9192407
- author
- Méry, Emiline LU and Schüsseleder, Axel LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSPR14 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- global identity, political identity, psychological distance, moderation mediation path analysis, polarization, global identitet, politisk identitet, psykologisk distans, moderation mediation path analys, polarisering
- language
- English
- id
- 9192407
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-16 08:09:23
- date last changed
- 2025-06-16 08:09:23
@misc{9192407,
abstract = {{Aiming to better understand the climate as a polarized issue, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the construct of Environmental Concern. Furthermore, it examined how Global Identity (to what extent an individual identifies with all of humanity) and Political Orientation are related to Environmental Concern. Additionally, it explored possible moderating and mediating factors in the relationship. Data collection was managed through a self report questionnaire (N = 680). Results showed that Environmental Concern is a multifaceted construct, comprising at least two underlying dimensions: Affect and Cognition. A mediation moderation path analysis replicated previous international results in a Swedish context, in that Global Identity had a positive relation to Environmental Concern. Nevertheless, Political Orientation was a more powerful predictor of Environmental Concern. Psychological Distance (referring to the perceived distance to climate change) was suggested to mediate the effect of Global Identity and Political Orientation on Cognitive, but not Affective, Environmental Concern. The further right respondents identified on the political spectrum the more distant they perceived climate change to be. Future research should consider the complexity of Environmental Concern, and provide a clear definition when operationalizing the term. In conclusion, the present study broadens the understanding of the underlying mechanisms underpinning the climate as an affectively and politically polarized issue.}},
author = {{Méry, Emiline and Schüsseleder, Axel}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Who cares about the Climate? - The relationship between Social Identities, Political Orientation and Environmental Concern}},
year = {{2025}},
}