Thirteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

What are the main factors that influence people’s decisions to engage in pro-environmental behaviors, and how might social influence reinforce or even undermine conventional wisdom or logic relating to the subject? Climate change is unquestionably the defining issue of our time. The aim of this evidence-based academic review is to examine present literature on climate change behavior and assess if the theory of social influence has a solid foundation while highlighting modern research that explores social influence from the perspective of the influencer. We contemplate how theoretical insights of social influence might be translated into practice, arguing that inaction as a result of barriers at the psychological level alone ignores complex interactions between social structures, context, and psychological tendencies. A history of social influence is introduced, followed by an analysis of social Influence and climate change behaviors. The review concludes with a recommendation of future directions based on the idea that psychological dimensions of factors behind climate behavior be viewed in a larger context.