Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

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We are pleased to announce the publication of a new peer-reviewed article entitled Improving public engagement with climate change: Five “best practice” insights from psychological science in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.

President Obama recently signed an executive order encouraging the federal government to use insights from behavioral science to better serve the American people. In this paper, we distill years of psychological research to identify five lessons that policy-makers can use to engage the general public on the issue of climate change and promote public support for climate policies:

1. The human brain privileges experience over analysis
2. People are social beings who respond to group norms
3. Out of sight, out of mind: Reduce psychological distance
4. Framing the big picture: Nobody like losing but everyone likes gaining
5. Playing the long-game: Tapping the potential of human motivation

The open-access article is part of a special Perspectives on Psychological Science issue showcasing how psychological science can inform public policy-making.