Abstract
Meta-analyses on the determinants of pro-environmental behaviour report mixed evidence for the effect of distinct emotions on climate-change-relevant behaviours. Firstly, emotional response to climate change is rarely studied experimentally, and stimuli are often created ad-hoc for each study. Furthermore, many researchers point out that there is insufficient focus on the clarity and coherence of cognitive appraisals underlying the elicitation of distinct emotions. The Emotional Climate Change Stories (ECCS) database is a collection of 180 short stories of similar length, describing either climate change or neutral situations. Stimuli were initially selected to represent 6 distinct categories (anger, anxiety, compassion, guilt, hope, as well as neutral state). Stories in ECCS are based on real experiences of emotions related to climate change, shared by the participants from two independent samples: people particularly concerned about climate change (N=40) and the general population (N=523). The database was initially tested in a large opportunity sample in Poland (N=603) and validated in representative samples in Poland (N=304) and Norway (N=300). Stimuli from ECCS effectively evoke specific emotions, allowing for better experimental control in environmental psychology research. To enable a fine-grained selection of stimuli in future research, several other features, including the gender of characters and the presence of specific phrases, were also annotated. ECCS is available in three language versions: English, Polish and Norwegian. This database can be useful for researchers studying the impact of different emotions on attitudes towards the environment, actions taken to address climate change, as well as mental health and well-being.
Presenters
Dominika ZarembaPhD Student, Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Human Impacts and Responsibility
KEYWORDS
Climate emotions, Stimuli base, Database, Experimental Stimuli
