Different kinds of knowledge tied to concern about climate change

Ars Technica : Several past experiments have found that increasing people’s knowledge of climate change doesn’t necessarily raise their concern about the issue. However, a new paper argues that because those studies treated “knowledge about climate change” as a monolithic concept, they don’t necessarily reflect reality. The researchers separated knowledge into three categories: physical knowledge, causes knowledge, and consequences knowledge. Physical knowledge includes understanding concepts such as how carbon dioxide is produced; causes knowledge includes comprehending the effect humans have had on climate change; and consequences knowledge includes grasping the predicted global and local effects of climate change. In a survey of 2495 people in six countries—the US, Canada, China, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK—participants were asked their level of concern about climate change; then they were given questions that tested the three categories of knowledge. Researchers found that although greater physical knowledge correlated with lower concern, greater causes knowledge correlated with greater concern. Greater consequences knowledge also correlated with greater concern, except in Canada and China. Although the new questionnaire has limitations, it provides groundwork for future surveys on the topic.