Instead of influencing the scientific community through published research , contrarian scientists have been most impactful by promoting their viewpoints through public engagement . The normative journalist practice of giving both sides of an issue equal weight has allowed the minority of contrarians to obtain disproportionate coverage , thus amplifying their views .
Once people internalize misinformation , it is notoriously difficult to dislodge . Research has shown that even people who remember a refutation continue to be influenced by the refuted misinformation . In more extreme situations , when a refutation is perceived to threaten a person ’ s worldview , it can backfire and reinforce false beliefs . Similarly , refutations that place too much emphasis on the refuted myth increase the risk that the myth is later recalled as true . So how can we leverage communication strategies to counter climate misinformation ?
One approach showing a great deal of potential in countering misinformation comes from the inoculation theory : a branch of psychological research that adopts the vaccination metaphor ; just as biological vaccination neutralizes viruses by exposing people to a weak form of the virus , misinformation can be neutralized by exposing people to a weak form of misinformation . Inoculation is effective in neutralizing persuasive arguments across a range of issues such as health , politics , and climate change .
As well as neutralizing the influence of misinformation , another benefit of inoculation is that inoculated recipients are more likely to discuss the issue ; a phenomenon referred to as postinoculation talk . This is a desired outcome with the issue of climate change which is hampered by the conundrum of “ climate silence ”. While most people around the world are alarmed or concerned about climate change , they fail to talk about the issue with family or friends . One of the mechanisms driving self-censoring about climate change is the fear of looking incompetent .
Inoculation can therefore mitigate climate silence by providing people with explanations of denialist arguments . While passive inoculation involves oneway communication of messages to an audience , active inoculation involves interactively teaching recipients to reproduce the misleading techniques of denial .
It is my view that climate change must be addressed by people at the collective level . Communication experts must appreciate and embrace the fact that learning is a shared process that taps into people ’ s collective identities . Collective identity is a set of values or beliefs that are empowering to those who identify with and share them
Social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook have exacerbated the problem of misinformation ; facilitating the spread of misinformation on science topics . Low quality information is just as or more likely to go viral as high quality information . The structural and social features of social media have facilitated the development of echo chambers , where users are mostly exposed to viewpoints they already agree with . This dynamic accelerates public polarization , and causes people to be more resistant to changing their beliefs .
Blogs have also been a prolific source of misinformation about climate change , employing a range of arguments in order to cast doubt on the broader impacts of climate change . Comment threads on blogs are commonly political in nature , arguing that climate science is illegitimate , politicized , unreliable , and corrupted by conspiracy .
Twitter has particularly been a fertile ground for denialist themes - in the aftermath of the fires that razed Australia , and hurricanes on the west coast of the U . S in California and Oregon , a major theme in Twitter threads was that climate science was a conspiracy designed to increase the size of Government .
However , social media also offers opportunities to correct the negative influence of misinformation . It is possible for heterogeneous relationships to form on social media platforms , allowing people to encounter contrary views . This allows the opportunity to counter misinformation with corrections through social networks .
Technology can also be harnessed to deploy timely corrections through social networks . However , there are potential pitfalls to employing technological solutions in a refutational context .
It may seem obvious that , in order to address the challenges of global climate change , people must be well informed about the issue . It may then also follow that the more people know about the causes and consequences of climate change , the more likely they will be to change their behavior to mitigate or adapt to climate change .
However , knowledge of the phenomenon turns out not to predictably result in individuals making choices that are ‘ scientifically informed ’ or ‘ environmentally friendly ’ so , if knowledge is not sufficient to change behaviors and decision-making , what is ?
Understanding what actually influences human behavior and decision-making in response to climate change is a difficult communication goal . Climate change knowledge has some influence on attitude and several studies have shown that attitudes can be too sensitive to knowledge-based intervention .
Increasing people ’ s knowledge , even if that knowledge has some impact on their attitudes , may not be sufficient for influencing their behavior with regard to climate change . Even among people who are highly knowledgeable about the science of climate change , opinions about what can or should be done are polarized along ideological divides .
This pattern can be attributed to the powerful influence of individuals ’ identity groups : the communities on which they are most dependent for social and physical resources . People ’ s collective identities have a much stronger influence on their behaviors and beliefs about climate change than their scientific knowledge , which can work for or against the goals of communication interventions . To effectively learn to respond to climate change , people are forced to deal with several interconnected factors outside
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