Climate change visuals: a review of their effects on cognition, emotion and behaviour

Metag, Julia

Research article (book contribution)

Abstract

Visuals are omnipresent in the climate change discourse even though climate change can be difficult to visualize. Research shows that visuals often have a stronger impact on individuals than textual information. Thus, they are very relevant when considering factors that influence people’s attitudes toward climate change. This article provides an overview of the effects of climate change visuals on individuals’ climate change awareness, as well as on their knowledge about climate change, emotions elicited through visuals, and climate change-related behaviour. Existing research shows that certain images can increase people’s level of concern about climate change, although there is conflicting evidence regarding which types of images have a significant impact. Climate change imagery can evoke positive or negative emotions, depending on the image content. Effects on behavioural intentions can be observed, but whether these turn into actual behaviour remains an open question. Studies mostly rely on survey data, experiments, Q method, or mixed-method approaches to analyze the effects of climate change visuals.

Details zur Publikation

Publisher: Holmes, David C.; Richardson, Lucy M.
Book title: Research Handbook on Communicating Climate Change
Release year: 2020
Publishing company: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 9781789900392
Language in which the publication is written: English
Event: Cheltenham, UK; Northhampton, MA, USA