Misperceived social norms and willingness to act against climate change

Arbeitspapier

We document the individual willingness to act against climate change and study the role of social norms in a large sample of US adults. Individual beliefs about social norms positively predict pro-climate donations, comparable in strength to universal moral values and economic preferences such as patience and reciprocity. However, we document systematic misperceptions of social norms. Respondents vastly underestimate the prevalence of climate-friendly behaviors and norms. Correcting these misperceptions in an experiment causally raises individual willingness to act against climate change as well as individual support for climate policies. The effects are strongest for individuals who are skeptical about the existence and threat of global warming.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: SAFE Working Paper ; No. 414

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Valuation of Environmental Effects ; Climate; Natural Disasters and Their Management; Global Warming ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Subject: Climate change ; climate behavior ; climate policies ; social norms ; misperception ; beliefs ; economic preferences ; moral values ; survey experiments

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Andre, Peter ; Boneva, Teodora ; Chopra, Felix ; Falk, Armin
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE
• (where): Frankfurt a. M.
• (when): 2024

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.2139/ssrn.4740469
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/284397
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET