Here's how psychological science can reduce climate change

There has been a good deal of consensus among scientific experts that climate change is real, and that it is caused by human behaviour for many years now.

However, a recent study has claimed that psychological science may be effective in reducing the impact of climate change.

The consequences of climate change are immense, and believed by many experts to be largely irreversible (and exponential), causing threats coming from heat waves, flooding, declines in agriculture, and decreasing biodiversity, to name a few.

An interdisciplinary group of professors from the Netherlands, USA, and Germany innovatively answered if psychological science offers evidence-based solutions to climate change.

Lead author Paul van Lange said, "For effectively reducing climate change, it is essential to promote a longer-time perspective and a broadened intergroup perspective - in addition to strengthening the belief that climate change is real."

One way to convince people about the reality of climate change, they argue, is to have governments tailor information to local circumstances because it is the most concrete and relevant to decision makers.

Professor Jeff Joireman noted, "Flooding is a key example that could be very concrete to some people living in lower-altitude countries while increasing heat might be more convincing to people living in hotter climates."

This is not the only recommendation to promote an orientation to the future. Paul van Lange added, "It is for some decisions wise to include relatively uninvolved people, expert-advisors, in discussions of climate change - and especially in advice regarding urban planning and infrastructure."

The researchers suggested that the final recommendation focuses on decisions that are made by representatives - such as national leaders when they have to reach an agreement about the climate agreements.

The full findings are present in the journal- Current Directions in Psychological Science.