Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new article, “Positive images of heat waves reduce the effects of messages about extreme heat among U.S. adults” in the journal Environmental Communication.

Climate change is making heat waves more frequent and severe, posing an increasing risk to human health. What is the best way for the news media and others to communicate these important facts about extreme heat? One aspect of this question focuses on the content of the news article or message, such as the role of climate change in increasing the likelihood of extreme heat. But another important aspect is the associated imagery that accompanies these articles or messages. It is plausible that the same message can have different impacts depending on the image it is paired with.

We tested this question in a large-scale survey experiment with 3,960 US adults using a message that emphasized the harms of extreme heat and the fact that climate change has significantly increased the likelihood of extreme heat events. We then randomly paired this message with one of several different images. Respondents received a positive, neutral, or negative image along with the message. Positive images included “fun in the sun” photographs often used by the news media, such as people hanging out on the beach or in a swimming pool. Neutral images included people walking or sitting in the sun under an umbrella. Negative images included people showing signs of heat exhaustion. 

We tested the effects of the message and the corresponding images on: 1) people’s worry about heat waves, and 2) people’s beliefs that climate change is increasing the likelihood of heat waves. We found that when the message was paired with a negative or neutral image, people became significantly more worried about heat waves and more convinced that climate change is making heat waves more likely. When the message was paired with a positive image, however, there were no effects (see figure below). In other words, the positive images reduced the impact of the message.

These findings are important because news articles about extreme heat are often accompanied by positive images similar to those tested in our study. Thus they provide conflicting messages, where serious text about the risks of extreme heat are accompanied by images that have a positive connotation and downplay the risks. The implication for effective messaging is to ensure that the emotional tone of the image aligns with the seriousness conveyed in the message.

The full article with many other findings is available here to those with a subscription to Environmental Communication. If you would like to request a copy of the published paper, please send an email to climatechange@yale.edu with the subject line: Request imagery paper. Or, a preprint version is available here.