Using ingroup messengers and ingroup values to promote climate change policy

Abstract

Responses to climate change are strongly linked to political identity and therefore any efforts to promote climate change policy need to take political identity into account. In the current research, we developed communication strategies, informed by the social identity approach, that promoted climate change policies to Republicans and Democrats. In experiment 1 (N = 879), we presented messages to Republican and Democrat participants about a carbon tax policy that differed in terms of whether the policy was endorsed by members of the Republican or Democrat party, and whether the policy was promoted on the basis of Republican or Democrat values. Experiment 2 (N = 1008) adopted the same design but the focus was on a nuclear energy policy. Across both studies, participants had more positive responses—more favorable attitudes, greater support, and stronger intentions to engage in policy-supportive behavior—when the climate change policy was endorsed by members of their ingroup than the outgroup. In experiment 1, Democrat participants (but not Republican participants) also had more positive attitudes to the carbon tax policy when it was framed in a way that aligned with the values of their ingroup. In experiment 2, Democrat participants again had more positive responses to the nuclear energy policy when it was promoted on the basis of ingroup values, whereas values did not influence Republican participants. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering social identity motivations when communicating about climate change policies.