Why Humans Are So Bad at Thinking About Climate Change

Provided by: Vox |Published on: April 27, 2021

Videos

6789101112

Synopsis

This video shows how guilt-inducing climate change messaging has had little impact on individuals or policy makers while a new psychology-based approach to communication has yielded better results.
Students will learn that large companies are using behavioral science methods to get people to reduce their electricity and fuel use.

Subjects: Science

Authors: Vox

Region: North America, United States, Global

Languages: English

Positives

This video shows students how behavioral scientists at UCLA developed experiments to determine the best way to get people involved and interested in solving the climate crisis.
Students will see how collective action can make a big impact.

Prerequisites

This video contains advertisements at the beginning and the midpoint.
Students should have some background knowledge of the Montreal Protocol, the global agreement to halt CFC production in order to heal the hole in the ozone layer.
The video focuses on the impact of electricity conservation without explaining that a lot of electricity is generated from the burning of fossil fuels.

Differentiation & Implementation

Psychology or life skills classes could discuss how social competition can have positive and negative impacts on people.
Ethics classes could discuss why people were more motivated by learning about the health impacts of climate change than they were by the money-saving information.
Other resources on this topic include this video that explains the psychology behind desirable food and food waste, this lesson that teaches students how to have climate change conversations, and this SubjectToClimate lesson plan on learning how to conserve energy.

Scientist Notes

Teaching Tips

Standards

Resource Type and Format

All resources can be used for your educational purposes with proper attribution to the content provider.

Teaching Materials

Educator Support

My Account