Investigating Connections between Need for Cognitive Closure and Climate Change Concern in College Students

Margaret Orr, Alan Stewart and Andrew Grundstein
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Margaret Orr: Department of Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Alan Stewart: Department of Counseling and Human Services, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Andrew Grundstein: Department of Geography, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-18

Abstract: Understanding how people’s worldviews and individual personality differences affect their thinking about anthropogenic climate change is critical to communication efforts regarding this issue. This study surveyed University of Georgia students to investigate the role that need for cognitive closure plays in level of climate change worry. The relationship between these two was found to involve suppression—a subset of mediation—by the social dimension of political conservatism. Political conservatism was also found to play a mediating role in the relationship between need for cognitive closure and support for governmental and personal climate solutions. However, social conservatism played this mediator role in women, and functioned as a suppressor for men. These findings help inform audience segmentation and creation of climate-related messages based on audience worldview and personality.

Keywords: climate change; psychology; communication; need for cognitive closure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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