Lecture 7: public engagement

Question 1

What is important to remember about ‘the public’?

Answer 1

There are supposedly multiple publics that are distinguished based on different values, aspirations and demographic characteristics

Question 2

What are the three aspects of public engagement?

Answer 2

Cognitive (understanding), affective (emotional) and behavioural

Question 3

What are the two divisions for public engagement rationales?

Answer 3

Citizen and consumer

Question 4

What are 3 aspects of each two different rationales for public engagement?

Answer 4

Citizen = policy legitimacy, public compliance, opportunities for mass mobilization, voting power
Consumer = travel choices, food choices, home renovation

Question 5

What are 7 actors responsible for shaping public engagement?

Answer 5

1. Government
2. NGOs
3. Business
4. Popular culture
5. Media
6. Education institutions
7. Art exhibitions

Question 6

What are 3 perspective on the levels of climate change engagement?

Answer 6

Spatial
Temporal
Spatio-temporal

Question 7

What might explain spatial differences in the climate change engagement?

Answer 7

Differences in the associated impacts of climate change

Question 8

What might explain temporal differences in the climate change engagement?

Answer 8

Certain events might happen which spark major interest in the issue

Question 9

What are 3 example events that might explain spatial differences in climate change engagement?

Answer 9

• Oceania is subject to major impacts of climate change
• Some places might be expected to receive a lot of climate-displaced migrants and so may want to avoid it happening to avoid strain on them
• Places with a fragile or vulnerable economy to climate change may want to avoid it causing harm

Question 10

What are 3 temporal events that could affect temporal differences in climate change engagement?

Answer 10

Climate change conference
Major climatic disaster
Major El Nino

Question 11

What event sparked a major increase in the newspaper coverage of climate change or global warming?

Answer 11

Cancun UNFCCC conference (2010)

Question 12

What are 5 potential barriers to engagement outlined by Lorenzoni et al. (2007)?

Answer 12

Shifting blame on to other countries
shifting responsibilities to other actors
Technological optimism
Social norms
Psychological spatial distancing from problem
Conflicting objectives

Question 13

What are the 4 ways that people and groups interact?

Answer 13

Attitudes, understandings and habits
Heuristics
Social norms
Cognitive biases

Question 14

What are heuristics?

Answer 14

People trying to work out things for themselves in unique ways to each other

Question 15

What are cognitive biases?

Answer 15

people trying to simplify things in their own way and ending up with a personally-derived conclusion

Question 16

How do cognitive biases interact with climate change?

Answer 16

It is a difficult thing to comprehend and so people try and make sense of it in their on ways that is not always correct

Question 17

What are 3 models of predicting engagement?

Answer 17

Information deficit model
Social Amplificaiton of Risk (SARF)
Cultural Theory

Question 18

What is the information deficit model?

Answer 18

media have failed in their duty to inform people of the science or scientists have failed in their duty to clearly explain the science

Question 19

What is the social amplification of risk?

Answer 19

Communication of a risk event passes through different senders through intermediate stations to the receiver, these different stations can amplify or attenuate the risk through their own interpretation and then convey this to the next station. This will continue to be relayed down the social ladder

Question 20

What are the 2 axis of the cultural theory used to predict engagement?

Answer 20

Support of social regulation and amount of social contract

Question 21

What are the 4 types of people in the Cultural Theory and describe their characteristics

Answer 21

Fatalist - nature is a capricious and so the outcomes are a function of chance
Hierarchists - Nature is tolerant if treated with care and outcomes can be managed to be sustainable
Individualists - Nature is resilient and outcomes are a personal responsibility
Egalitarians - nature is vulnerable and outcomes require altruism and a common effort

Question 22

What did the Yale Program on Climate Change communication (2016) state?

Answer 22

Only 51% of the American public is either alarmed or concerned about climate change

Question 23

What did Corner, Markowitz and Pidgeon (2014) state?

Answer 23

• Specific feelings about climate change are derived from initial perceptios people form regarding the implications of climate change for the values that they strongly endorse
• The extent to which climate change can be made to seem in harmony/agreement with an individual’s or group’s values is likely to determine the effectiveness of communication strategies
• Positive spillover effect

Question 24

What did Lorenzoni (2007) state?

Answer 24

Targeted and tailored information provision should be supported by wider structural change
- Evidence suggests that many barriers are impediments to more sustainable lifestyles in general - this questions the current emphasis on voluntary measures within the UK

Question 25

What did Moser (2010) outline are challenging traits to the climate change probelm?

Answer 25

• invisible causes, distant impacts, insulation of modern humans from their specific environment, delayed or absent gratification for taking action

Question 26

What did Moser (2010) outline should be changed/considered for future research and practice?

Answer 26

make impacts and solutions case-specific, encourage cross national research, explore use of visual communication methods, explore dialogue as method

Question 27

What did Whitmarsh, O’Neill and Seyfang (2011) state?

Answer 27

Carbon is not a salient consideration in everyday decision making
Structural and cultural barriers to behaviour change