Relationship Between a Humourous Monologue About Climate Change Consensus and Pro-climate Intentions

The scientific information on climatic change often has less consequence as a result of the credibility of the communicating scientists. In the current political system, climate change has been politicized and politicians aiming at different offices use it as a campaign agenda. The largest numbers of people who believe in climate change have a political affiliation. Individuals often indicates high possibility of voting for the liberal political parties that are pro-climate change while those who are aligned to the conservative ideologies are less likely to support climate change. The acceptance of climate change often depends on the political party in power. In other countries, the idea of climate change has been perceived as an obstacle to the economic development since the approaches that are in place to reduce the climate change interferes with the industrial process. The tendency for the conservatives to oppose the issues of climate change with the aim of challenging the liberals has long been identified in the United States of America.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Keywords: Climate change, political orientation

Political Orientation Will Moderate the Relationship between a Humourous Monologue about Climate Change Consensus and Pro-Climate Intentions

Introduction

Most scientists often communicate with the public on various scientific matters, but such communications may have less significance on the public view due to political orientations. The information of from the scientists may also less consequence as a result of the credibility of the communicating scientists. In the modern political system, climate change has been politicized and politicians aiming different offices use it as a campaign agenda (Hornik et al., 2016). The scientific issues should not be politicized as they proven evidences that stipulate the nature of the present and future environment. In most cases, the risk of communication about the controversial issues in scientific realities influences the sensitivity of political orientation (Lorenzoni & Pidgeon, 2006). The above case occurs when the scientist present the risk of issues associated with liberal and conservative groups. This relationship is often facilitated by the participant political ideologies, with liberals amending their acuity in accordance to the scientist's political beliefs (Hornsey et al., 2016). Despite the existing facts that climate change is a severe threat to the global environment, there is still a number of people who deny the fact. Many individuals in different political orientation believe that climate change is an idea that was politically motivated (Lewandowsky & Oberauer, 2016). The issue of climate change is politically-polarized with liberals agreeing with the scientific evidences provided and conservatives disagreeing with the facts. Politicians have greater influence and whatever they present to the public are often translated to suit the ideology of each political divide. Unfortunately, simply giving out information on scientific consensus and climate change does not seem to change the people's perception on average (Dietz et al., 2007). The above case can thus lead to stronger rejections of the idea of climate change mostly by the conservatives (Reid & Toffel, 2009). The paper analyzes how the political orientation can moderate the relationship between a humorous monologue about climate change consensus and pro-climate intentions.

Hypothesis

H0 : Political orientation will not moderate the relationship between a humourous monologue about pro-climate intentions and climate change

H1 : Political orientation will moderate the relationship between a humourous monologue about pro-climate intentions and climate change

The scientists and political leaders have used different methods in the past to enhance the delivery of climate change. To increase the support for climate change, there is the need to apply humour in the delivery processes. In some of the previous studies, humours have been used in different environmental research with some giving out effective results (Hart & Nisbet, 2012). Nevertheless, it is probable that some common types of humours concerning the present political issues such as the late night shows in the television have significant effects on climate change actions and beliefs (Bates, 2014). The largest numbers of people who believe in climate change have a political affiliation. Individuals who are most likely to vote in favor of liberal ideologies are pro-climate change while those who are aligned to the conservative ideologies are less likely to support climate change. The tendency for the conservatives to oppose the issues of climate change with the aim of challenging the liberals has long been identified in the United States of America (Van Rensburg, 2015). The above cases have thus contributed to the development of ideological gap between democrats and republicans. The acceptance of climate change often depends on the political party in power (Anderegg et al., 2010). In other countries, the idea of climate change has been perceived as an obstacle to the economic development since the steps that has been taken to mitigate or to reduce the climate change interferes with the industrial process. Climate change is issues that are of great concern in the world politics and with many countries willing to take part in the policy formulation, the political parties often remain strong in support of their philosophies (Unsworth & Fielding, 2014).

Methodology

The research will follow the quantitative approaches as it aims at establishing valid information from the data collected from different study participants. The concepts highlighted in the introduction will undergo verification to establish the concrete proves. The variables will be verified to ensure there is a correct representation of data collected. The rationale of this research is descriptive in nature as it involves answering the objectives presented in the introductory part. The research involved the use of primary data collected from different online sources. Before the actual data collection process, the questionnaires were designed to include questions that were expected to give the actual information required for the study. The questionnaire consisted of simple and direct questions that were easy to react to by the participants. After the design of the questionnaire, there was the identification of the study participants from different online sources. Some of the online platforms used for the study include social media sites and other online forums.

The sample size identified for the study was 161. In other words, a total of 161 participants were identified for the study. Most of these participants came from varied locations across the globe. The majority of the study participants in the USA where the politics on climate change has mostly been on the rise. Each of the study participants was presented with a 3 to 5 minute to answer the questions. When answering the questions, the participants were expected to draw the information presented in the video that was provided together with the questionnaires. The online questionnaires were presented with different links that enabled the participants to go through the instructions on how to respond to the questions, in addition, the videos were also presented in the video and audio format to facilitate the understanding of the survey's instructions. The instructions outlined the benefits of taking part in the study; this was incorporated to facilitate the full participation of the study participants. Before engaging the participants, there was the signing of consent and the document of secrecy. The questions in the questionnaire were formulated to enhance the extraction of variables to be entered into the Excel spreadsheet.

After the survey, the data were entered into the Excel spreadsheet under the correct variable. Data cleaning was done whereby extraneous variables were eliminated; outliers were also deleted to ensure perfect results during analysis. The data was then imported to the SPSS where the analysis was carried out to prove the hypothesis stated above. In the SPSS there was the coding of variables to ensure clarity in the presentation of data after the analysis, for instance, under the variable Gender, 1-represented male participants, and 2-represented female participants. There was also the use of the Climate Action Intention Scale, which ranges from one to seven. Higher scores on the above scale showed a higher intention of the study participants to engage in supporting the climate change actions aimed at protecting the global environment. The actions would include voting for politicians who are pro-climate change action plans or those who want to protect the global environment from climate change. In the data analysis, there was a computation of Cronbach's alpha which involved summing up of individual item scores. Under the "experimental group" variable, the participants who indicated "0" viewed the regifting clip while those who indicated "1" viewed the climate change content clip or video. In the data analysis, there will be the computation of descriptive statistics especially for the variables "gender" and "age".

Results

Table1: Age

Number Min Max averege Std. Dev...