Although climate change has become an increasingly popular topic in both research and the public-eye, there is little standardization of the images used to represent it. The differences in expert and non-expert climate imagery is also problematic. This study aims to resolve both of these issues: first by analyzing participants’ ratings of 320 images on their relevance to climate change as well as emotional arousal and valence; then by compiling these images and their affective characteristics into a database for use in future climate-related research. Participants’ environmental attitudes were surveyed to investigate the relationship between attitudes and image ratings. High-arousal, low-valence images tended to be rated as most relevant to climate change, and participants with higher environmental interest tended to rate all images as more relevant to climate change. We also found that image themes of climate-relevant images in this study were similar to those found in other climate imagery studies—e.g. ice floes, industrial smog, and natural disaster outcomes—implying that non-experts consistently find that this type of imagery best represents climate change.
","abstract_html":"<p>Although climate change has become an increasingly popular topic in both research and the public-eye, there is little standardization of the images used to represent it. The differences in expert and non-expert climate imagery is also problematic. This study aims to resolve both of these issues: first by analyzing participants’ ratings of 320 images on their relevance to climate change as well as emotional arousal and valence; then by compiling these images and their affective characteristics into a database for use in future climate-related research. Participants’ environmental attitudes were surveyed to investigate the relationship between attitudes and image ratings. High-arousal, low-valence images tended to be rated as most relevant to climate change, and participants with higher environmental interest tended to rate all images as more relevant to climate change. We also found that image themes of climate-relevant images in this study were similar to those found in other climate imagery studies—e.g. ice floes, industrial smog, and natural disaster outcomes—implying that non-experts consistently find that this type of imagery best represents climate change.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lehman, Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychological Science","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Joshua Carlson"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:12Z","subjects":["climate change","affective images","climate imagery","environmental attitudes","NEP scale","Cognitive Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/555","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Joshua Carlson"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lehman, Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-03-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychological Science"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["climate change","affective images","climate imagery","environmental attitudes","NEP scale","Cognitive Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/555"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Although climate change has become an increasingly popular topic in both research and the public-eye, there is little standardization of the images used to represent it. The differences in expert and non-expert climate imagery is also problematic. This study aims to resolve both of these issues: first by analyzing participants’ ratings of 320 images on their relevance to climate change as well as emotional arousal and valence; then by compiling these images and their affective characteristics into a database for use in future climate-related research. Participants’ environmental attitudes were surveyed to investigate the relationship between attitudes and image ratings. High-arousal, low-valence images tended to be rated as most relevant to climate change, and participants with higher environmental interest tended to rate all images as more relevant to climate change. We also found that image themes of climate-relevant images in this study were similar to those found in other climate imagery studies—e.g. ice floes, industrial smog, and natural disaster outcomes—implying that non-experts consistently find that this type of imagery best represents climate change.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Affective Images of Climate Change: Analysis and Database Development"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Joshua Carlson"],"dc:creator":["Lehman, Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2019-03-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Although climate change has become an increasingly popular topic in both research and the public-eye, there is little standardization of the images used to represent it. The differences in expert and non-expert climate imagery is also problematic. This study aims to resolve both of these issues: first by analyzing participants’ ratings of 320 images on their relevance to climate change as well as emotional arousal and valence; then by compiling these images and their affective characteristics into a database for use in future climate-related research. Participants’ environmental attitudes were surveyed to investigate the relationship between attitudes and image ratings. High-arousal, low-valence images tended to be rated as most relevant to climate change, and participants with higher environmental interest tended to rate all images as more relevant to climate change. We also found that image themes of climate-relevant images in this study were similar to those found in other climate imagery studies—e.g. ice floes, industrial smog, and natural disaster outcomes—implying that non-experts consistently find that this type of imagery best represents climate change.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/555"],"dc:subject":["climate change","affective images","climate imagery","environmental attitudes","NEP scale","Cognitive Psychology"],"dc:title":["Affective Images of Climate Change: Analysis and Database Development"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychological Science"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:24:12Z"}