Using Statistics to Increase Both Hope About Solving Climate Change and Acceptance/Concern About Global Warming
Name
education-16-00853.pdf
Size
305.97 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
847b2833e1e17b4b26aeadb4d4323dde
Author(s)
Velautham, Leela
Ranney, Michael Andrew
Date Issued
May 9, 2026
Journal
Education Sciences
Publisher
MDPI
Citation
Velautham, L.; Ranney, M.A. Using Statistics to Increase Both Hope About Solving Climate Change and Acceptance/Concern About Global Warming. Educ. Sci. 2026, 16, 853.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Hope is an important emotion for fostering action regarding global warming (GW). This article’s experiment utilizes (a) a cognitive hope theory that combines agency and pathways-thinking and (b) prior (numerically driven inferencing) research on how estimating germane quantities, followed by surprising numeric feedback, impacts one’s beliefs and decision-making. We designed and assessed a short intervention that focally had 226 Americans estimate quantities regarding the impact/uptake of three GW solutions: sustainable (e.g., solar) electrification, energy efficiency (e.g., recycling), or reduced meat consumption. Changes in climate-change hope and GW beliefs represented the intervention’s effectiveness. (Nationalism, etc., were also assessed.) The intervention was generally successful—statistically significantly increasing participants’ (1) hope about humanity’s ability to tackle climate change and (2) GW acceptance/concern. Our results demonstrate climate-change hope’s close relationship with various constructs (particularly, acceptance of GW’s reality)—and that central facts can quickly modify such hope. We further replicated findings that core/surprising statistics can spawn environmental conceptual changes. Our results additionally support earlier-identified phenomena that people revise GW beliefs upon encountering salient, valid, surprising information. The findings (a) increase our laboratory’s (now 12) ways in which brief materials will boost GW acceptance/concern, and (b) imply that GW messaging should balance climate-dangers explications with hopeful solutions.
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci16060853
