Reframing Environmental Messages and the Role of Identity in Wider Appeal

<p>As issues related to climate change and the environment are often framed and narrated through a moral lens, messages that are tactfully framed to tap into relevant moral endorsements may be effective at bringing about public and community engagement. Previous research has found an effect of message moral reframing on environmental concern and support for climate friendly policies (Hurst & Stern, 2020). However, a replication study failed to find an effect of moral reframing on environmental intentions (Kim et al., 2022). To provide further clarity on the replicability of the original study, the current study investigated the effect of message framing, source of information, and political affiliation on receptiveness toward environmental messages. Furthermore, the current study expands on the original study by exploring a mediating relationship between receptiveness and behavioral intention. Participants (N = 406) were registered to vote in either the Democratic or Republican party in the United States. Participants were randomly assigned to either see a liberally framed or conservatively framed message, delivered by either a liberal or conservative source. We found that participants received the two types of messages similarly, but that party affiliation of the participants, in general, was the strongest predictor of message receptiveness. Furthermore, environmental self-identity partially mediated the effect of receptiveness on behavioral intention. Although the current study did not find evidence for the replicability of the original study, political and environmental identity are worthy areas for further investigation, as they provide large explanatory power in environmental attitude and behavior.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, MA

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Suting

Contributors dc:contributor

• Adam Pearson

• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1090

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2112