Klimawandel: Apokalyptische Warnungen können kontraproduktiv sein

Warum gibt es dermaßen viele "Klima-Skeptiker", obwohl sich sämtliche renommierten Klimaforscher bei diesem Thema grundsätzlich einig sind? Das Wissenschaftsblog "Research Digest" hat dazu eine interessante neue Studie über die menschliche Psychologie aufgetan:

Many people believe implicitly that the world is fair, that bad things by and large don't happen to good people. When presented with evidence to the contrary, they ignore or downplay it. According to Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer, this is exactly what happens when such people are presented with dire warnings about global warning.

Feinberg and Willer had 97 undergrads read one of two versions of a newspaper-style article about global warming and its likely consequences. Both articles began in the same way with findings reported by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, but then one of them went on to describe apocalyptic consequences whereas the other was more upbeat and described potential technological solutions.

Hier geht es weiter.