Breedveld, Liselotte (2022) ‘We Did it in the Past, We Can Do it Again!’: Inducing Collective Transilience in the Face of Climate Change. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Climate change is having detrimental impacts on current society, hence there is a pressing urge to adapt to these consequences. Research has proposed that collective transilience, namely people’s perceived capacity to persist, adapt flexibly, and positively transform as a community in the face of climate change, is relevant for encouraging collective forms of adaptation to climate change. The aim of this experimental study is to investigate whether collective transilience can be induced. We tested whether past reminders of successful adaptation to climate change have an effect on collective transilience, adaptation intentions (collaborative, collective action and individual), information-seeking behaviour, and well-being. Additionally, we expect that collective transilience mediates the relationship between the manipulation and adaptation intentions, information-seeking, and well-being. To test the hypotheses, we conducted an online experiment (N = 186) with three conditions, where the emphasis on the Dutch capacity to adapt in the past was manipulated (adapt and positively transform, adapt and bounce back, control). Results showed no direct effects of the manipulation on collective transilience, adaptation intentions, information-seeking, and well-being. Exploratory analyses showed that collective transilience predicted higher general well-being and that when using a successful manipulation sample the past reminders, unexpectedly, significantly decreased collaborative adaptation intentions. Yet, collective transilience did not mediate this effect. Thus, we found no support for the assumption that being reminded of past adaptive capacities could aid adaptation efforts in the present. Possible explanations and future research directions are discussed. Keywords: climate change adaptation, transilience, past reminders, experiment.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Lozano Nasi, V. and Jans, L. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Oct 2022 13:05 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Oct 2022 13:05 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1458 |
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