Presentation
Moral Licensing in Climate Change Mitigation: The Role of Feedback and Probability Dynamics
SessionPoster Session 1
DescriptionPeople start dealing with climate change with good intentions – such as reducing emissions or generating green energy. And yet, the initial action makes them feel like they've "done enough" and then take it easy afterwards. That's known as moral licensing. In this paper, we investigated why and how that occurs when people make decisions in a simulation of climate change. Participants were asked to allocate resources into activities that either reduced future risk of climate change or defended against current harm using the Interactive Climate Change Simulator (ICCS). We examined two variables: whether or not participants were given feedback on the result of their choice, and whether risks of global warming were modeled as suddenly accelerating (cubic) or gradually increasing over time (linear). We discovered that feedback, while generally favorable, sometimes caused people to do less in subsequent rounds. Notably, risk framing did not affect choice itself, but did when combined with feedback. These results illustrate that ostensibly helpful comments can have unintended effects on occasion. When we develop tools and messages to contribute to climate action, we need to design them in a way that demonstrates long-term commitment rather than a one-off.
Contributors
Alternate Presenter
Event Type
Poster
TimeTuesday, October 14th5:30pm - 6:30pm CDT
LocationRiverside East
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