Research projects

Climate news triggers very different reactions in people. While reports about new technologies and international climate protection initiatives can convey confidence, reports about natural disasters or dramatic forecasts often lead to fear and overwhelm. But how do these forms of communication and the emotions they trigger affect everyday behaviour? Fear can either inspire or paralyse. Hope can inspire confidence and encourage action, but false hope can lead to underestimating the problem and inaction. So do fear or hope motivate people to take climate-friendly action or do they tend to make people withdraw and remain inactive?

A joint research project at the Chair of Psychology I and the Chair of Psychology III is dedicated to precisely this question, with Dr Martin Weiß and Julian Gutzeit investigating the role that emotions and climate communication play in environmentally conscious behaviour.

In the first part of the study, so-called eye-tracking methods are used to record which elements of climate images attract attention particularly strongly - i.e. where the gaze wanders to first and for the longest. In the second part, the researchers accompany participants for a fortnight via an app. They receive short climate messages several times a day: some give hope, others focus on frightening aspects of climate change. This repeatedly triggers fear about climate change in some participants, while others are more optimistic. Participants also use the app to report whether they have adopted environmentally friendly behaviour in their everyday lives - for example, whether they have used a bicycle instead of a car or made environmentally friendly purchasing decisions.

The researchers hope to gain insights into how climate communication should be designed effectively. The results should provide guidance for education, the media and civil society organisations so that communication about climate change does not paralyse people, but empowers them to act.