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N5 - September 2015
ANNAMARIA LAMMEL
Senior lecturer and accredited research
director in cross-cultural psychology
(University of Paris 8) and researcher
at the Paragraphe Laboratory. Annamaria Lammel is an anthropologist and
holds a doctorate in cognitive psychology. She is one of the leading authors of
the fifth IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change) report.
Climate change :
from perception to action
Annamaria Lammel
s it still possible to deny climate change? This is a phenomenon that has mobilized the worlds most important institutions, decision-makers, scientists, industrialists and bankers,
entire societies as well as individuals. Its man-made origins are
more and more evident each day, yet people remain disconnected from such a perception, both individually and as groups.
It is therefore unproductive to think that we can inspire people
to take action against climate change when their representation
of the phenomenon does not entail a full and proper perception
of its risks and dangers.
This paper addresses this concern and proposes to show how the
study of human perceptions and representations can provide the
key to a better understanding of climate-related problems.
To do so, we will explain the need (I) to overcome the obstacles
to understanding this complex phenomenon; (II) to encourage
a fuller awareness of climate risk; (III) and finally, to develop
an ethic that encourages people to take action against climate
change.
The ACOCLI
research project
This paper is partly based on
research conducted as part of
the ACOCLI project (the name
ACOCLI comes from the French
for Cognitive Adaptation to
Climate Change), financed by
the French National Research
Agency and coordinated by
Annamaria Lammel and Frank
Jamet within the Paragraphe
Laboratory at the University of
Paris 8.
To understand the importance of studying cognition and the cultural context in relation to individuals capacity to respond to climate
change, the individual and his or her specific characteristics must
be placed at the centre of a theoretical model of dynamic adaptation to change. The diagram below clearly shows the interactions
between the different components, as environment , culture, and
cognition and how individuals behaviour affects the world around
them1.
This project includes in particular the study of various aspects of cognition in relation
to climate change (mental representation, categorisation,
comprehension, temporal and
spatial cognition, and problem
solving) in populations with
different degrees of exposure
to climate change.
More than 800 individual interviews were conducted as
part of the project in both metropolitan France (in Paris,
the Alps and Ile de R) and
overseas (French Guiana and
New Caledonia). The objective
was to identify the cognitive
models underlying climate
change.
CONCEPTS USED
Cognition
The set of mental processes that enable and structure knowledge.
Many functions are involved in the cognitive process, such as memory, language, perception and learning. While classical psychology at one time contrasted cognition and emotion, modern cognitive
science generally recognises the important role played by emotion
in the cognitive process.
Cognitive vulnerability (ACOCLI definition)
Il sagit dun tat cognitif dans lequel le sujet ne dispose ni des informations / connaissances suffisantes, ni des modes de traitement
de linformation ncessaires la comprhension optimale des phnomnes auxquels il est confront.
-2-
These processes, such as learning, memory, perception, categorisation and emotions, are influenced by human cultures in
various ways. To adapt to climate and climate change, humankind
needs to gradually develop specific reasoning and problem solving capabilities to understand and respond to complex conditions3. However, rationality in terms of calculating probability
and decision-making based on mathematical rules are not intrinsic human qualities, nor do they occur naturally in larger human
organisations4. Numerous studies suggest that human cognitive
capabilities are limited5 and that the modern mind struggles to
grasp the systemic character of climate, the understanding of
which requires the processing of a large number of interactions
between variables, and positive or negative feedback loops (i.e.
a reaction to an initial action that either amplifies or reduce its
effects), all in a state of uncertainty.
It is therefore necessary to make use of highly complex cognitive
processes to understand and mentally represent climate change.
-3-
11. - Harris, A. J., & Corner, A. (2011). Communicating environmental risks: Clarifying
the severity effect in interpretations of
verbal probability expressions. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory,
and Cognition, 37(6), 1571.
- Patt, A. G., & Schrag, D. P. (2003). Using
specific language to describe risk and probability. Climatic change, 61(1-2), 17-30.
What meaning should be ascribed to the statement: High temperatures contribute to a 0.5% to 2.3% increase in annual mortality
rates? The issues of perception and acceptance of scientific data are
crucial here. Cognitive science has, for example, highlighted a phenomenon known as the accuracy paradox. Thus, research has shown
that the general public has more confidence in data describing a
smaller interval (a temperature increase of 2 to 3C) than it does in
data describing a broader spread (a temperature increase of 1 to 5C)
even if the latter is actually more accurate scientifically7.
-4-
Within the ACOCLI research project, our interest is in how the inhabitants of various regions with very different climates picture climate
change-related risks. Research was accordingly conducted in Paris,
the Alps (in Chamonix), New Caledonia and French Guiana. This stu-
-5-
Measures to be promoted:
cross-cultural international
exchanges
The separation factor, the distance
between the inhabitants of Western
countries and poorer countries and
their inhabitants, which are the first
to experience the effects of global warming and will suffer the most serious
consequences, does nothing to encourage efforts to combat climate change.
Closer ties between the inhabitants
of different parts of the world can be
thought of as helping city dwellers to
understand the urgency regarding climate problems by those living in the
areas most exposed to risk, and as making a fuller and more systemic picture
of global warming possible. In this respect, experiments in twinning between
western cities and more exposed towns
and cities are to be encouraged and
could increase the feeling of belonging
to a world community, in the same way
that twinning arrangements between
European towns and cities fostered a
sense of European community lower
down after the Second World Wari.
Such links should also be explored more
systematically in education, in particular by pen pal schemes between
children, firstly between schools in metropolitan France and French overseas
territories or French-speaking countries, and then between French schools
and schools in non-French-speaking
countries that are most exposed to
global warming, when the language
barrier can be overcome. As the anthropologist Charlie Galibert has shown,
corresponding with foreign schoolchildren can transform a school into a global school and suggest other ideas of
spatiality and temporality beyond the
here and nowii.
New communication methods make
worthwhile, interactive connections
between children possible, without the
need for travel, and can help in understanding the problems facing the inhabitants of such areas while encouraging
systemic thinking patterns.
i. Hamman, P. (2003). Les jumelages de
communes, miroir de la construction europenne par le bas . Revue des sciences
sociales, 30, 92-98.
ii. Gallibert C., (2003). De la mise en correspondance de correspondances. Contribution une anthropologie de la communication. Communication et langages, 136(2),
106-122.
Simple risk
Multiple risk
The multiple risk cognitive representation was identified in the inhabitants of the Alps (Chamonix) and in certain cultural groups in
French Guiana. The multiple risk representation is not linear; it is
based on an iterative picture, where interaction between various components can alter the climate change process. Risk is not embedded
in the climate object represented by one of its components such
as the atmosphere, but is calculated using the signs of environmental change. In Chamonix for example, alterations in the conditions
of rocks and the risk of collapse or landslides are accordingly represented in comparison with other risks from climate change. From a
very young age, the cognitive representations of this regions inhabitants incorporate a notion of risk connected to the weathers unpredictability, by virtue of both the transmission of local knowledge and
their own personal experiences.
Complex risk
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-7-
18. - Jamieson, D., (1996). Ethics and intentional climate change. Climatic Change, 33,
323-336.
- Gardiner, S.M., (2004). Ethics and global
climate change. Ethics, 114, 555-600.
Arnold, D.G., Ed. (2011). The Ethics of Global
Climate Change, Cambridge University
Press, New York, NY.
- OBrien, K., A.L.S. Clair and B. Kristoffersen, Eds., (2010) Climate change, ethics
and human security, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
19. Gardiner, S.M., (2011). A Perfect Moral
Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate
Change. Oxford University Press, Oxford
and New York, p.xii.
20. Ibid.
-8-
Climate change is one of many environmental threats of anthropogenic origin. Homo sapiens, the destroyer of its own environment is,
paradoxically, the only species able to be concerned about its environment and able to do something about it by determining the most
appropriate actions to counter the threat.
The term environmental concern appeared in social psychology in
the 1980s. Environmental concern is a form of individual assessment
that, through varying attitudes to the environment, shows in behaviour. Environmental concern is strongly linked to values, which we
will deal with next. There are substantial differences in levels of environmental concern between individuals. The factors influencing environmental concern, and therefore indirectly, awareness and taking
action, include knowledge, belief systems, individual responsibility
and assessment of the risk posed to the individuals health. An individuals level of environmental concern is first and foremost a product
of the local environment - air pollution, waste, toxic substances, etc.
Yet how can this concern be shifted from the local level to the global
level, the setting for worldwide climate change? As seen previously,
individuals in big cities are in fact in a state of cognitive vulnerability
which can form an obstacle to genuine concern in relation to the global level, and is therefore an obstacle to large scale collective efforts.
Many studies have investigated this issue. Just one example will be
mentioned here, a longitudinal study (74 surveys) conducted in the
United States between 2002 and 201024. Every three months, researchers measured the level of individuals concern over global climate
change based on the following factors:
(1) extreme weather events;
(2) public access to scientific information;
(3) media coverage (including economic aspects);
(4) involvement of politicians and/or media personalities (elites
& celebrities);
(5) discussions about climate change.
The results show that extreme weather conditions have no effect on
public opinion, and that scientific information and discussion have
very little. In contrast, what the study calls elite cues and economic
consequences presented by the media play a significant role in raising awareness taking the form of concern over climate change. This
study therefore shows the importance of the involvement of politicians, elites and climate protection groups.
Anthropology has shown that concern for the environment is found
in the majority of small societies and, when this concern disappears
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One of the problems with concerns over climate change is that such
concerns are superficial and short-lived. How, then, can they be
converted into actions? A new sub-discipline, the psychology of climate change communication, attempts to find psychologically effective communication methods so as to develop lasting environmental concern, leading to environmental attitudes that are conducive
to action26. Current methods, using various conditioning techniques
(tax reductions, the eco-tax, etc.) attempt to galvanise the public
(economic stakeholders, consumers or businesses) into pro-environmental behaviour climate change therefore manifests itself in economic goods and takes a monetary value. The change in behaviour
brought about by such methods is not a principled change and thus
may well prove not to be lasting, in particular if a subsequent change
in public policy should jeopardise the financial incentives.
Furthermore, such methods confine the question to an issue of profitability without entailing any development of genuine, value-based
environmental concern.
The values influencing concern over climate change have been studied alongside other environmental values. As abstract entities and
aids to thinking and to behave, values make it possible to include the
global dimensions of environmental changes. One of the directions
taken by research in this area looks at the relationship between values, attitudes and behaviour directly related to environmental protection, because these are the actual values that guide an individuals
actions.
25. Diamond, J. (2006). Effondrement: comment les socits dcident de leur disparition
ou de leur survie. Gallimard.
26. Shome, D., & Marx, S. (2009). The
psychology of climate change communication. Center for Research on Environmental
Decisions. Columbia University.
In 1994, Suzanne Gagnon Thompson and Michelle Barton published a research article in which they defined two types of value-based attitudes to environmental issues, namely ecocentric and
anthropocentric27. Ecocentrism concerns individuals who value nature for its own sake and hold the view it should be protected for its
intrinsic qualities. Nature possesses a spiritual dimension for such
individuals, and has a value outside of economic considerations and
the quality of life it provides. Anthropocentrism, meanwhile, connects
environmental protection to the satisfaction of material needs, ascribing a value to nature that is essentially utilitarian. The two attitudes
agree on the necessity to preserve the environment, but for different
reasons. The first attitude will usually culminate in personal commit-
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Measures to be promoted:
urban nature to develop positive
environmental attitudes
The inhabitants of large cities such
as Paris have a binary reperesentation of climate change. Cities
lack of contact with natural environments is also seen to result in
a lower propensity to developing
awareness of climate change.
Initiatives aimed at developing
the idea of urban nature are
thus to be encouraged. Over and
above the purely ecological benefits of making urban environments
greener (maintaining biodiversity,
combating pollution, managing
run-off, resilience through urban
agriculture, etc.), projects encouraging inhabitants involvement
can serve to promote biospherical attitudes which will boost the
fight against climate change. It is
therefore desirable to increase the
number of shared family or community garden schemes, and those
part of rehabilitation projects,
flower planting along pavements
or within school projects, the setting up of spaces conducive to pollinators combined with running
beehives and harvesting honey by
local people, skyrise greenery, etc.
The team formulates the hypothesis that a persons involvement in environmental issues depends on the extent to which that person feels
part of the natural environment. In a test designed by the team called
the INS (Inclusion of Nature in Self) scale, research participants had
to indicate their level of connection with nature, or more precisely
a level of their inclusion with nature. The research showed that individuals who associate themselves with nature tend to hold broader
sets of concerns for environmental issues (biospherical attitudes). An
individual with less of an association with nature can be concerned
about environmental issues but these concerns will be more focused
on problems that directly affect the individual.
Environmental values do not merely differ from one individual to
another, but they also vary across different cultures. This difference
is not limited to a dichotomy between western countries and the rest
of the world; even within Western countries, cultural differences may
be significant depending on proximity to the natural environment.
This fact can prove to be an obstacle in international negotiations
over climate change, as can for example, very different attitudes to
time (tendency to look to the past, present or future), hierarchical
relationships and authority, or indeed social organisations (individualism or collectivism).
Problems relating to climate change have an intrinsic temporal dimension. Our research (ACOCLI) on the role of values in the perception and cognitive representation of climate change has shown an
omportant dimension linked to temporal cognition, and more specifically to temporal orientation. It is based on the following question
can humankind project itself into the future and if so, how far?
- 11 -
The author
Annamaria LAMMEL
Senior lecturer and accredited research director in cross-cultural
psychology (University of Paris 8) and researcher at the Paragraphe
Laboratory.
Annamaria Lammel is an anthropologist and holds a doctorate in cognitive
psychology.
She is one of the leading authors of the fifth IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change) report.
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