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Exploring the Moral Challenges of Confronting High-Carbon-Emitting Behavior: The Role of Emotions and Media Coverage

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  • Susanne Stoll-Kleemann

    (Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany)

  • Susanne Nicolai

    (Institute of Geography and Geology, University of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany)

  • Philipp Franikowski

    (Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany)

Abstract

In this article, we address the climate crisis as a moral issue and discuss the relevant moral and emotional processes and the role of the media underlying the motivations of individuals to behave in a less carbon-emitting manner. We provide theoretical insights from social psychology and emotion research and empirical data based on an online survey from Germany ( N = 979). In the theoretical part, we outline the role of emotions in influencing carbon-related behavior, with a particular focus on self-condemning (e.g., guilt or shame), self-praising (e.g., pride), or other-suffering emotions (e.g., empathy). We further summarize the reasons for the low influence of the media on carbon-related behavior compared to the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical results confirm that participants reported other- suffering and self-condemning emotions in response to news content and rated their likelihood of personal behavior change as high when confronted with news about the climate crisis on a daily basis, as has been widely the case during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that the media is responsible for regularly reporting on the victims of the climate crisis in order to generalize self-condemning and other-suffering emotions into affective attitudes. Opinion leaders can function as role models for low-carbon behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Stoll-Kleemann & Susanne Nicolai & Philipp Franikowski, 2022. "Exploring the Moral Challenges of Confronting High-Carbon-Emitting Behavior: The Role of Emotions and Media Coverage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:5742-:d:811948
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    References listed on IDEAS

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