Herrmann, Leonie Franziska (2025) I Trust, so I Support? Exploring the Link between Governmental Trust and Support for Climate Policies via Anticipated Policy Impacts. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Effective policymaking to combat climate change depends on public support for climate policies. Since individuals support climate policies more strongly when they anticipate more positive policy impacts, understanding how individuals evaluate such policy impacts is crucial. This study investigates whether governmental trust and policy support are indirectly associated via anticipated policy impacts. Cross-sectional data from 17,076 European participants confirmed that governmental trust was associated with policy support for four different climate policies (tax on beef, tax on flight, mandatory insulation, tax on fossil fuels). Across policies, participants with stronger governmental trust did not anticipate a stronger reduction of national greenhouse gas emissions due to a climate policy. However, participants with stronger governmental trust consistently anticipated more positive policy impacts on their well-being and lifestyle, their financial household, and their country’s economy. Multiple mediation analyses further indicated that the association between governmental trust and policy support was largely explained by these three anticipated policy impacts across all four policies. Only anticipated policy impacts on the financial household did not mediate the link between governmental trust and support for a tax on fossil fuels. The results imply that governmental trust might function as a heuristic for the evaluation of policy impacts, which provides important theoretical and practical implications for climate policymaking.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Bouman, T. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2025 08:51 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Jul 2025 08:51 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5750 |
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