Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts
Abstract Beliefs about climate change divide the U.S. public along party lines more distinctly than hot social issues. Research finds that better-educated orinformed respondents are more likelytoalign with their partiesonclimate change. This information-elite polarization resembles a process of bias...
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ftuninhampshire:oai:scholars.unh.edu:soc_facpub-1191 2024-09-15T18:02:15+00:00 Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts Hamilton, Lawrence C. 2012-10-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholars.unh.edu/soc_facpub/192 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 https://scholars.unh.edu/context/soc_facpub/article/1191/viewcontent/wcas_d_12_00008_2E1.pdf unknown University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository https://scholars.unh.edu/soc_facpub/192 doi:10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 https://scholars.unh.edu/context/soc_facpub/article/1191/viewcontent/wcas_d_12_00008_2E1.pdf © 2012 American Meteorological Society. Sociology Sociology text 2012 ftuninhampshire https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 2024-08-02T04:50:30Z Abstract Beliefs about climate change divide the U.S. public along party lines more distinctly than hot social issues. Research finds that better-educated orinformed respondents are more likelytoalign with their partiesonclimate change. This information-elite polarization resembles a process of biased assimilation first described in psychological experiments. In nonexperimental settings, college graduates could be prone to biased assimilation if they more effectively acquire information that supports their beliefs. Recent national and statewide survey data show response patterns consistent with biased assimilation (and biased guessing) contributing to the correlation observed between climate beliefs and knowledge. The survey knowledge questions involve key, uncontroversial observations such as whether the area of late-summer Arctic sea ice has declined, increased, or declined and then recovered to what it was 30 years ago. Correct answers are predicted by education, and some wrong answers (e.g., more ice) have predictors that suggest lack of knowledge. Other wrong answers (e.g., ice recovered) are predicted by political and belief factors instead. Response patterns suggest causality in both directions: science information affecting climate beliefs, but also beliefs affecting the assimilation of science information. Text Climate change Sea ice University of New Hampshire: Scholars Repository Weather, Climate, and Society 4 4 236 249 |
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Sociology Hamilton, Lawrence C. Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
topic_facet |
Sociology |
description |
Abstract Beliefs about climate change divide the U.S. public along party lines more distinctly than hot social issues. Research finds that better-educated orinformed respondents are more likelytoalign with their partiesonclimate change. This information-elite polarization resembles a process of biased assimilation first described in psychological experiments. In nonexperimental settings, college graduates could be prone to biased assimilation if they more effectively acquire information that supports their beliefs. Recent national and statewide survey data show response patterns consistent with biased assimilation (and biased guessing) contributing to the correlation observed between climate beliefs and knowledge. The survey knowledge questions involve key, uncontroversial observations such as whether the area of late-summer Arctic sea ice has declined, increased, or declined and then recovered to what it was 30 years ago. Correct answers are predicted by education, and some wrong answers (e.g., more ice) have predictors that suggest lack of knowledge. Other wrong answers (e.g., ice recovered) are predicted by political and belief factors instead. Response patterns suggest causality in both directions: science information affecting climate beliefs, but also beliefs affecting the assimilation of science information. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hamilton, Lawrence C. |
author_facet |
Hamilton, Lawrence C. |
author_sort |
Hamilton, Lawrence C. |
title |
Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
title_short |
Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
title_full |
Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
title_fullStr |
Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Did the arctic ice recover? Demographics of true and false climate facts |
title_sort |
did the arctic ice recover? demographics of true and false climate facts |
publisher |
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://scholars.unh.edu/soc_facpub/192 https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 https://scholars.unh.edu/context/soc_facpub/article/1191/viewcontent/wcas_d_12_00008_2E1.pdf |
genre |
Climate change Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Climate change Sea ice |
op_source |
Sociology |
op_relation |
https://scholars.unh.edu/soc_facpub/192 doi:10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 https://scholars.unh.edu/context/soc_facpub/article/1191/viewcontent/wcas_d_12_00008_2E1.pdf |
op_rights |
© 2012 American Meteorological Society. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-12-00008.1 |
container_title |
Weather, Climate, and Society |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
236 |
op_container_end_page |
249 |
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1810439724240732160 |