CeCAR-seminarium med Lyle A. Scruggs

Seminarium

Lyle A. Scruggs, Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut, will present the paper "The Effectiveness of Partisan and Non-Partisan Sources in Correcting Climate Change Denial".

Abstract:

Misperceptions of the scientific consensus on climate change are an important problem in policy discourse. This is partly due to partisan polarization on the issue of climate change, and statements from prominent politicians that contradict the scientific consensus. This study uses two between-subject survey experiments to test whether the partisan source of corrective information affects expressed attitudes about climate change. Results show that the effectiveness of corrective information is affected by both the partisanship of the recipient and the partisan source of corrective information. Republicans report significantly greater beliefs and concern over anthropogenic climate change when they receive corrective information from other Republican politicians, rather than Democrats or non-partisan scientists. Independents also exhibit a similar pattern, though more attenuated. For Democrats, already inclined to support the current scientific consensus and the threat of climate change, corrective information has little discernable effect on attitudes following a climate denial prime.