The psychology of climate change

Cardiff researchers based in the University's three Research Institutes are leading the way in tackling issues of global importance in the fields of cancer, neuroscience and mental health, and sustainability. Here Professor Nick Pidgeon, part of the research team at the Sustainable Places Research Institute and Professor of Environmental Psychology at the School of Psychology, discusses his research into the psychology of climate change. One of the more puzzling things in the debate about climate change is the fact that, while a majority of people in Britain and other nations profess their concern about this issue and the environment in general, far fewer are willing to make substantial changes which would lead them to live in more sustainable ways. Climate change a distant threat - From research conducted by social scientists over the past 20 years we now know quite a lot about why this is. For some individuals other aspects of life loom larger than the environment on a day-to-day basis - such things as personal and family relationships; financial security, or employment. Although people do have a good appreciation of many of the more prominent climate change impacts (warming, sea level rise, melting glaciers), they often assume that these will only affect other people; future generations or distant places. In effect, climate change has become, in psychological terms, distant in both space and time for many people.