9

responses. Individual and cultural variation influences all aspects of the process, providing

context, world views, values, concerns, resilience, and vulnerability.

Section 5: Which psychological barriers limit climate change action?

Many structural and psychological barriers stand in the way of behavioral changes that

would help limit climate change. Many people are taking action in response to the risks of

climate change, but many others are unaware of the problem, unsure of the facts or what to do,

do not trust experts or believe their conclusions, think the problem is elsewhere, are fixed in their

ways, believe that others should act, or believe that their actions will make no difference or are

unimportant compared to those of others. They may be engaged in token actions or actions they

believe are helpful but objectively are not. They have other worthy goals and aspirations that

draw their time, effort, and resources, or they believe that solutions outside of human control will

address the problem. Some or all of the structural barriers must be removed but this is not likely

to be sufficient. Psychologists and other social scientists need to work on psychological barriers.

Section 6: How can psychologists assist in limiting climate change?

Psychology can improve understanding of the behaviors that drive climate change by

building better behavioral models based on empirical analysis, providing deeper understanding

of individual and household behavior, and applying evaluation research methods to efforts to

develop and improve interventions. One of psychology’s unique contributions is to

understanding behavior at the individual level. It has already broadened understanding of the

interactive roles of various personal and contextual factors in shaping environmentally

significant behavior and in understanding why people do and do not respond to the variety of

intervention types, including the use of persuasive messages, information, economic incentives,

and new technologies. It can contribute more in this area by helping to design more effective
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interventions. Psychology can also help by illuminating the psychological factors affecting

behavioral change in organizations, as well as cultural and policy change.

Topic specific research recommendations follow from our illustrations of how

psychologists can help address these questions. These recommendations come at the end of each

section. In many cases, research recommendations involve testing the generalizability of

information derived from related areas to the context of global climate change. In other cases,

the research recommendations highlight places where more research is needed to fully

understand particular topics highlighted within each section.

Policy recommendations

A second aim of our report was to make policy recommendations for APA. We

formulated recommendations to assist and encourage psychologists’ engagement with climate

change issues as researchers, academics, practitioners, and students, and to foster the

development of national and international collaborations with other individuals and associations

inside and outside of psychology. We also make recommendations to encourage APA to “walk

the talk” by addressing our professional organization’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions

and to be a role model for divisions within psychology.

Discussion

We conclude by summarizing the value of a psychological approach to studying climate

change and research contributions. We discuss the importance of being attuned to diversity of

human experiences in climate change analyses because various understandings of and responses

to climate change will be influenced by one’s worldview, culture, and social identities. We also

discuss how APA ethical standard provide motivation for psychologists’ engagement in climate

change issues and challenges. Finally, we recommend that psychologists adopt the following
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principles to maximize the value and use of psychological concepts and research for

understanding and informing effective responses to climate change thereby maximizing their

contribution to the science of climate change:

1. Use the shared language and concepts of the climate research community where

possible and explain differences in use of language between psychology and this community;

2. Make connections to research and concepts from other social, engineering, and natural

science fields;

3. Present psychological insights in terms of missing pieces in climate change analyses;

4. Present the contributions of psychology in relation important challenges to climate

change and climate response;

5. Prioritize issues and behaviors recognized as important climate change causes,

consequences, or responses. Be cognizant of the possibility that psychological phenomena are

context dependent;

6. Be explicit about whether psychological principles and best practices have been

established in climate-relevant contexts;

7. Be explicit about whether psychological principles and best practices have been

established in climate-relevant contexts;

8. Be mindful of social disparities, ethical and justice issues that interface with climate

change.
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Preface

The mission of the American Psychological Association (APA) Climate Change Task

Force was to report on the interface between psychology and global climate change, formulate

research recommendations, and write policy recommendations for psychological science. In this

report we summarize research illustrating a psychologically informed understanding of global

climate change and its impacts, mitigation, and adaptation. We also identified areas for future

research and policy recommendations. The following paragraphs provide some background on

our task force report.

Our first challenge was to determine our audience. We believe that psychology has a

crucial contribution to make to multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary efforts in the context of

global climate change, both nationally and internationally—a view that was shared by the

external reviewers of this report. Further, psychology can assist policy makers, funding

agencies, public and private organizations, local and regional government bodies,

nongovernment organizations, and the general public. Yet, we also believe that it is important to

more fully engage the psychological community (teachers, researchers, practitioners, and

students) in issues related to global climate change. Given the instruction to formulate policy

and research recommendations for psychological science, we decided that our primary target

audience should be members of the psychology community. It is hoped that this report can help

psychologists become more knowledgeable about how their field can inform the discourse on

climate change. A deeper engagement would be to incorporate the urgency and challenges of

global climate change into psychology research; to inform students about the psychological

aspects of climate change; and to incorporate climate change considerations and public concerns

in psychological interventions. For instance, psychologists in the community can help address
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environmental worries and anxieties or assist communities and organizations in their efforts to

address causes and consequences of climate change. While psychology has already contributed

much to collaborative efforts addressing climate change, we believe that psychologists can do

much more. We also would be very pleased if this report inspires a greater appreciation of

psychology’s contributions to understanding and addressing climate change, and facilitates

collaborative initiatives with others outside of psychology.

Two overriding considerations guided the writing of the report. First, based upon our

understanding of scientific evidence, we strongly believe that global climate change impacts

constitute a significant threat and challenge to human health and well being and that human

behaviors are a primary driver of climate change. We believe that people from all walks of life

need to work together to prevent future harm. We recognize that psychologists address a number

of important issues. We do not mean to imply that addressing global climate change is more

important than other work psychologists do and do not see them as mutually exclusive. At a

professional level, some psychologists may choose to focus on climate change in their practice,

research, or teaching; others may consider ways in which their work and basic research can

inform and be informed by research on global climate change. Still others may simply learn

more about what others in their field are doing.

The second consideration was the critical need for informed decision making. In our

report, we sought, wherever possible, to identify psychological knowledge derived from and

clarified by climate-relevant empirical research. In areas where there was a dearth of climate

change-relevant research we identified findings that could be applied and evaluated in a climate

change context. Our goal was to provide a review of psychological research that would be a
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resource for psychologists (teachers, researchers, and practitioners) and students of psychology

(undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral fellows).

We review psychological research within the context of central themes (i.e., causes,

impacts, and responses—including adaptation and mitigation) that characterize current discourse

within climate change science and the human dimensions of global change literature. These

themes were chosen, in part, to assist psychologists in their interactions with others studying

climate change and to structure the report given the very diverse nature of relevant psychological

research. Based upon these themes, we framed plain language questions that psychologists are

currently addressing and could more fully address in the future. At the end of each section

answering each question, we provide research recommendations. One to three task force

members took responsibility for each section of the report as well as the preface, introduction,

and conclusion. We did not identify authors for each section because there was much

collaboration in the development, writing, and revision of each section.

As noted, we sought to identify psychological research and practice that has been

specifically applied and tested in the arena of climate change. As may be expected, this led us to

begin with research and practice in environmental and conservation psychology, the literature on

natural and technological disasters, and clinical perspectives associated with ecopsychology.

Our committee was novel in that it included social, counseling, cognitive, and clinical

psychologists in addition to environmental psychologists and those specializing in global

environmental change. It also included representation from several countries (the United States,

Canada, Australia, and one member with dual citizenship in the United States and Germany).

Global climate change is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that can be understood

from a number of perspectives. In our report, we were unable to give full attention to all