Author
Listed:
- Myriam N. Bechtoldt
- Alexander Götmann
- Ulf Moslener
- W. Pieter Pauw
Abstract
Unlike climate change mitigation, adaptation to climate change does not as much suffer from the fundamental global public good problem – at least at the country-level – since it is in the self-interest of each individual country to adapt. However, the observed level of adaptation is insufficient from an economic perspective. We address this puzzle by adding a psychological perspective to explain actors’ behaviour. Based on existing meta-analytic evidence we discuss micro- (i.e. individual-), meso- (i.e. group-) and macro- (i.e. society-) level factors that may contribute to more engagement in adaptation and provide recommendations on how to address them. The results show that the strongest predictors of individual adaptation behaviour are people's beliefs whether adaptive actions will be effective in protecting them from climate-related hazards (outcome expectancy), the degree to which people believe that they are able to engage in adaptive actions (self-efficacy) and their emotional reaction to climate change. Equally strong on a meso-level are behavioural norms and cultural aspects on a macro-level. We recommend that decision-makers create more transparency about the cause–effect chain between adaptation activity and desired adaptation effects to strengthen individuals’ sense of efficacy. Furthermore, inducing reflection on social norms through communicative interventions may contribute to motivate adaptive actions by individuals and organisations.Key policy insights Psychological factors play an important but underestimated role in explaining adaptation behaviour.If people believe that they can address the risks of climate-related hazards they will show stronger adaptation behaviour. This insight can be used to incentivise more investments in adaptation.Social norms and cultural values are linked to adaptation behaviour. Public communication campaigns and other policy interventions can help to change social norms, and they should be tailored to the cultural values of societies.The influence of social norms and cultural values can be stronger than individual-level variables such as beliefs and preferences.People underestimate the extent to which others are willing to contribute to society, in particular in societies scoring high on individualism and masculinity. This can prevent people from investing in adaptation.
Suggested Citation
Myriam N. Bechtoldt & Alexander Götmann & Ulf Moslener & W. Pieter Pauw, 2021.
"Addressing the climate change adaptation puzzle: a psychological science perspective,"
Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 186-202, February.
Handle:
RePEc:taf:tcpoxx:v:21:y:2021:i:2:p:186-202
DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1807897
Download full text from publisher
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the
CitEc Project, subscribe to its
RSS feed for this item.
Cited by:
- Jabulile Happyness Mzimela & Inocent Moyo, 2023.
"A Systematic Review of Collective Efficacy for Supporting Adaptation-Related Responses to Climate Hazards,"
Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, June.
- Hongpeng Guo & Yujie Xia & Chulin Pan & Qingyong Lei & Hong Pan, 2022.
"Analysis in the Influencing Factors of Climate-Responsive Behaviors of Maize Growers: Evidence from China,"
IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-17, April.
- Rilwan Sakariyahu & Olayinka Oyekola & Rasheed Adigun & Temitope Fagbemi & Oluwagbenga Seyingbo & Rodiat Lawal, 2023.
"Heterogeneous and time varying nexus between climate change and quality of life in Africa,"
Discussion Papers
2308, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
Corrections
All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:tcpoxx:v:21:y:2021:i:2:p:186-202. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/tcpo20 .
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through
the various RePEc services.