Feitsma, Sabien (2024) Don't Look Up, Look Within: Investigating the Influences of Perceived Urgency and Collective Efficacy on Climate Anxiety. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The increasing severity of climate change, exemplified by the warmest year on record globally in 2023, has heightened attention to its psychological impacts. Widespread concern about climate change underscores the need to investigate its impact on mental well-being. This study focuses on climate anxiety, a specific form of anxiety related to anthropogenic climate change, characterized by persistent worry and apprehension about its effects on individuals' emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological states. Appraisal theory of emotions suggests that emotions arise when a person evaluates an event as significant to their well-being and central concerns. According to this theory, emotions are shaped by how individuals appraise events rather than by the events themselves. Climate change, as a universal threat impacting everyone, elicits varied emotional responses based on individual appraisals. Understanding how people appraise climate change can provide insights into the mechanisms behind climate anxiety. The Appraisal Dimension: Urgency Urgency in the context of climate change refers to the perceived immediacy and severity of environmental threats. Urgency arises from the proximity of event effects in space or time and the perceived inability to manage them effectively. This heightened sense of urgency can contribute to increased anxiety. Research has shown that communities where the public perceives greater urgency about climate change are more engaged in climate change adaptation activities. This study hypothesizes that higher perceived urgency will lead to increased levels of climate anxiety. The Appraisal Dimension: Collective Efficacy Collective efficacy refers to the shared belief in a group's ability to achieve goals and tackle challenges. Applied to climate change, it suggests that believing in our collective power to address climate issues can boost public engagement and reduce anxiety. Empirical evidence supports the link between collective efficacy and climate anxiety, indicating that higher levels of collective efficacy can reduce feelings of powerlessness and anxiety. This study hypothesizes that greater perceived collective efficacy in addressing climate change will lead to lower levels of climate anxiety. An Interaction Effect The study proposes that the effect of perceived urgency on climate anxiety is moderated by collective efficacy, meaning that the anxiety-inducing impact of urgency is more pronounced at lower levels of collective efficacy. The study contained a sample of 151 participants, with data collected through a combination of SONA and convenience sampling. Participants were exposed to fabricated news articles varying in urgency and collective efficacy levels. Climate anxiety, perceived urgency, collective efficacy, and threat perception were measured. Preliminary analysis indicated no significant differences in reported urgency and collective efficacy between conditions, suggesting a failed manipulation. Due to ineffective manipulations, a multiple linear regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships among these variables based on individual differences rather than experimental conditions. However, regression analysis revealed strong positive relationships between perceived urgency and climate anxiety, as well as between perceived threat and climate anxiety. Collective efficacy did not significantly predict climate anxiety, nor did the interaction between urgency and collective efficacy. The study supports the hypothesis that higher levels of urgency are associated with greater climate anxiety. This association underscores that individuals who perceive climate change as more urgent tend to report heightened levels of climate anxiety. Contrary to the second hypothesis, collective efficacy did not significantly predict climate anxiety, suggesting that beliefs about collective action may not directly influence climate anxiety levels. The absence of a significant interaction effect between urgency and collective efficacy indicates that the combined influence of these factors does not uniquely contribute to climate anxiety beyond their individual effects. The study also identified gender differences in climate anxiety levels, with women reporting higher levels compared to men. This finding is consistent with previous research and may be attributed to traditional gender socialization and societal norms that lead women to adopt caregiving and nurturing roles, fostering greater empathy and concern for environmental impacts. The study encountered several limitations, including the ineffectiveness of the manipulation conditions for perceived urgency and collective efficacy. This failure could be due to the manipulation texts being either too weak to alter perceptions or too general, leading to incorrect interpretations by participants. The high initial levels of urgency and low perceptions of collective efficacy among participants may have also influenced the results, underscoring the need for baseline assessments in future studies. Future research should incorporate more specific and detailed measures of collective efficacy and consider baseline assessments to understand initial levels of urgency and collective efficacy. Enhancing manipulations with supplementary materials like images or videos could improve effectiveness, as these mediums are known to better capture attention and convey messages. Additionally, qualitative studies could investigate the mechanisms through which self-efficacy influences climate anxiety, providing a more nuanced understanding of this relationship. Exploring the distinction between local and global perceptions of climate change could further clarify the relationship between personal experiences with climate disasters and climate anxiety. Future studies could expose participants to localized versus global climate change information to observe their immediate emotional responses and levels of anxiety. This study enhances our understanding of climate anxiety by examining the roles of perceived urgency and collective efficacy through the lens of appraisal theory. Despite unsuccessful manipulations, the findings underscore the importance of perceived urgency and threat in influencing climate anxiety levels. The results highlight the need for more refined measures and experimental designs in future studies to better capture the dynamics of collective efficacy in relation to climate anxiety. Recognizing the role of urgency in motivating action without overwhelming individuals is crucial for developing effective strategies to manage climate anxiety amidst growing climate challenges.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Holzle, L.M. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2024 14:14 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2024 14:14 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4125 |
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