What Americans Think About Climate Change: Explorations of Attitude and Belief Formation and Change in Response to a Raging Controversy

Monday, November 05, 2012

Jon A. Krosnick

Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology
Stanford University

During the last 15 years, environmental organizations have millions of thousands of dollars in efforts to convince the American public that climate change is real and a threat meriting major government action. Yet despite votes in Congress on ambitious legislation designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions, no such laws have passed, and many in Washington believe that the American public has turned against the issue. In this talk, Jon Krosnick will describe some of the evidence he has collected during the last 15 years (through surveys and experiments) to profile American public opinion, track how it has changed over time, and explain why these changes have happened. The talk will illustrate how attention to real-world controversy can inspire advances in theoretical accounts of attitude change processes.