From the “cats think they are psychokinetic because they sit in front of a door and will it to open, and eventually it does” department comes this inane study that says we [are] basically able to stop climate change via beliefs
Warwick Research: Believe you can stop climate change and you will
If we believe that we can personally help stop climate change with individual actions — such as turning the thermostat down — then we are more likely to make a difference, according to research from the University of Warwick
- Individuals’ motivation to prevent climate change is negatively affected by climate change helplessness — belief that climate change is out of our personal control, so our actions will make no difference
- But those who believe individual actions do make a difference are more likely to perform them — which leads to lower energy consumption
- Public messages should focus on how we can make a personal difference to climate change, say psychologists
If we believe that we can personally help stop climate change with individual actions – such as turning the thermostat down — then we are more likely to make a difference, according to research from the University of Warwick.
Dr Jesse Preston in the Department of Psychology has demonstrated that people are often negatively affected by climate change helplessness — the belief that climate change is so massive and terrifying, as to be out of our personal control, and that our actions are too small to help.
This feeling of helplessness, however, makes people less likely to bother with individual eco-friendly actions – and actually leads to higher energy consumption.
In one study, the researchers tested a group of over two hundred people, and gave different members of the group varying messages about climate change.
Some were given a High Efficacy Climate Change message (that personal actions do make a difference in the fight against climate change); others a Helpless Climate Change message (that personal actions make no difference); and some were given no message at all.
Over the next week, the group reported whether or not they adopted behaviours to help stop climate change – such as driving less, hanging washing on the line instead of using the dryer, using less water, or turning the heating down.
The people who had received the High Efficacy Climate Change message reported 16.5% more of these behaviours than those who read a Helpless Climate Change message – and 13% more actions than the control group which received no message.
Moreover, people in the group which was told their actions couldn’t make a difference to climate change actually reported higher energy usage than before — showing how destructive a feeling of helplessness can be.
The researchers also found that a belief that personal behaviours make a difference enhances the moralisation of our actions – the notion that they are ‘good’ or ‘bad’ — and an awareness that the energy we individually consume could either prevent or cause damage to human life.
Public messages about climate change which focus on how we can help make a difference as individuals will be far more effective in encouraging people to consume less energy, according to the researchers.
Dr Preston commented:
“Often climate change messages try to persuade the public by increasing belief that climate change is real, or through fear of its dire consequences. But mere belief in climate change is not enough, and fear can backfire if we feel helpless and overwhelmed.
“It is vitally important that individuals appreciate the impact and value of their own actions for us to make a meaningful change as a whole.”
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The paper, ‘Climate Change Helplessness and the (De)moralization of Individual Energy Behavior’, is published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
http://psycnet.apa.org/?&fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/xap0000105
If we can stop climate change by turning down the thermostat, IT’S NOT A CRISIS. In fact, it’s not even serious.
Here’s a small item for you: This is Kentucky Derby Day. This afternoon the running of the Kentucky Derby, the first part of the Triple Crown of racing, will be held at the track i Louisville, KY. The weather is cooler than usual and the forecast is for clouds with occasional showers. If you are going to place bets at an OTB site, I suggest you pick a mudder. Apparently, the track is somewhat sloppy, but not deep.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/2017-kentucky-derby-unseasonably-cool-weather-forecast-for-saturdays-run-for-the-roses/70001582
No today is Kentucky Oaks. The Kentucky derby is Sat 5/6. The Oaks is for fillies and always run the day before. But perhaps you are in a part of the world where it is already Saturday.
You’re right. For some reason, I thought today was Saturday! My bad!
Bet extra units to win on trainer and jockey stats.
‘These are NOT the ‘droids you’re looking for’.
As I remember, that only worked on the feeble-minded.
Where do they find the people for these kinds of studies? I assume that virtually everyone already has some notion of whether they believed in CAGW or not. If you don’t believe that climate change is an issue then what difference does it make which statement you read? How do they normalize the actions of the groups?
“If we believe that we can personally help stop climate change with individual actions — such as turning the thermostat down — then we are more likely to make a difference…”
With summer approaching, it’s good to know that I will be doing my part by turning the thermostat down.
Yeas! I said Jea-sus Loves you! Can I get an AMEN brothers and sisters? Hallelujah!
I guess they have given up all pretense that alarmism is NOT a religion. Now they sound exactly like a revival tent preacher with a flock of willing faithful.
The reality is that the climate change we have been experiencing is caused by the sun and the oceans over which Mankind has no control. There is no real evidence that CO2 has any effect on climate and plenty of scientific rational to support the idea that the climate sensivity of CO2 is zero. One must be careful not to mixup weather cycles with climate change. The climate change we have been experiencing is so slow that it takes very sophistocated instrumentation decades to even detect it. But even if we could somehow stop the climate from changing, extreme weather events and sea level rise would still continue because they are part of the current climate.
It is believed by some people that to successfully sell one’s house he/should bury a statue of Saint Joseph in his yard, upside down.
Reportably one seller did this but, alas, he positioned the statue incorrectly and as a result the house across the street got sold instead of his own.
This is wonderful news. Would all true believers in catastrophic man-made climate change please turn off the lights early, allow themselves to experience more heat and more cold by turning off the heating//cooling, switch off the Internet, stop driving, stop flying, and I think that the world would be much more enjoyable.
The climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future climate states IS possible if you believe it’s possible.
… that’s why I prefer jiff-eqs instead of diff-eqs.
Just click your heels three times…….
Hmmm. The Psychology department. That’s kind of like Poli Sci departments teaching that ocean levels can be lowered by giving the right kinds of speeches.
I don’t believe what the consensus believes about climate change. Like most things the consensus is wrong. But I’ll compare my 6 months of electricity bills under $25 since I upgraded my roof with any climate moon’s bill. I live in Texas in a 2500 sf house central AC. Built in 1955.
I don’t believe what the consensus believes about climate change. Like most things the consensus is wrong. But I’ll compare my 6 months of electricity bills under $25 since I upgraded my roof with any climate loon’s bill. I live in Texas in a 2500 sf house central AC. Built in 1955. And we like to be comfortable.
Sympathy? Thanks…I guess.
Those whom the god would destroy they first make liberal.
Another bit if proof that the climate change people are concerned with is Anthropomorphic, not Anthropogenic.
“One group was shown the performance of climate models, and started laughing.”
“Researchers also found that respondents were more likely to believe they could solve an unbounded n-body problem for arbitrary values of n if they were given a cookie first.”
Believe you can make a killing farming tax credits from others no matter the inefficiency as a business model and you will.
I do believe in climate spooks! I do, I do, I do!
The Climate Change Cult is developing its own Articles of Faith, based on Al Gore’s slide show as its Holy Writ.
The great climate warming pause, explanation nr. 328: People started to believe they can stop climate change and it really stopped! It’s a miracle!