Overcoming Endpoint Bias in Climate Change Communication: The Case of Arctic Sea Ice Trends |
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| Authors: | Bruce W Hardy Kathleen Hall Jamieson |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Strategic Communication, Media and Communication Doctoral Program, School of Media and Communication, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA;2. Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, Annenberg School for Communication and Walter and Leonore Annenberg Director, Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Unusually cold winters, a slowing in upward global temperatures, or an increase in Arctic sea ice extent are often falsely cast as here-and-now disconfirmation of the scientific consensus on climate change. Such conclusions are examples of “end point bias,” the well documented psychological tendency to interpret a recent short-term fluctuation as a reversal of a long-term trend. End point bias poses a challenge to those trying to communicate cross-decade climate warming trends. In this study, we demonstrate that exposure to misleading scientific information on FoxNews.com that evokes end point bias can affect the beliefs of liberals and moderates as well as conservatives. We also show that the leveraging-involving-visualizing-analogizing communication model can reduce the effects of endpoint bias among moderates and liberals at the same time as it dampens both the ideological and endpoint biasing of conservatives. |
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| Keywords: | Climate communication endpoint bias ideological bias |
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